Senseless World
by Oneechan94
Summary: Strawhats arrive to a friendly pirate mansion and expecially Luffy gets along with the mansion's captain. They seem to be nice people, at least until Sanji causes some trouble to Strawhats by being his usual self. There will be ZoSan so yaoi-haters, watch out! Events occur in the New World :)
1. Welcome to pirate mansion!

Here goes my new One Piece fanfic :) One Piece belongs to Eichiroo Oda-sama, remind you! I already wrote two chapters of this story but then I started again because I wasn't really happy about how the beginning felt :( So there will be ZoSan and probably some grammar and spelling mistakes since English is not my native language :) But I try my best! This story is Sanji centric AGAIN and events occur after fishman island AGAIN! This time I have got sort of a Beta reader who reads my texts :) She is pretty good, you know! :D

_Sanji thinking_

...

Strawhats had arrived to a mysterious mansion of pirates. It was located in a middle of the deserted island with few cliffs and underground caves. It reminded them of Alabasta. They had hoped some normal island with jungle or a village but not a deserted, dry island.

"It's hot~" Luffy complained and panted hard, trying to swallow when his mouth and throat were dry.

"Then why did you want to come with us in the first place, you gomu-bastard?!" Sanji cursed and loosened his tie. This weather was ridiculous so he couldn't possibly choose fashion instead of overheating.

"Yohohoho! Sanji-san is harsh as always!" Brook laughed and wiped his forehead even though there was no sweat to wipe off.

"You are lucky one, Brook..." Nami sighed and tied her hair up to a ponytail.

"Ah, because I am a skeleton?" Brook realised,"Well, I am not really suffering from the heat but my bones are getting lighter because of the sun! That's horrible!"

"You would probably shine nicely in the dark and attrack attention of all the wild night beasts,"Robin chuckled at the thought.

"Well, he has no meat for them to offer so they get nothing from approaching him..." Nami shoved her shoulders slightly.

"But he has got plently of bone! I think there would be at least many dogs willing to chew his bones," their archeologist chuckled again and the skeleton tensed.

"I think I don't like dogs very much..." Brook shivered at the thought.

The building in the middle of the desert was pretty easy to detect: the island was pretty small and it was located in the highest place of the deserted island. Aside from the location and the size of the island, the mansion was pretty colorful and there was a big pirate flag on top of it.

"Are they desert pirates or something? That's pathetic!" Sanji sighed and took a small sip of the water he had with him. He knew how important it was to spare food and clean water but he thought that since they were so close to the ship and so close to the mansion, he didn't need to be so careful. Of course he wouldn't do the same as Luffy, who drank all of his water after ten meters walk.

Nami looked around the desert and saw no clouds around them. She was getting pretty sweaty and thought of using Clima Tact to create rain or wind but she thought it would be such a waste when their destination was not so far away. She felt how their crew's all-the-ladies-man watches her sweaty appearance and almost heard the drool falling on the dry sand but she didn't pay attention to it.

Sanji swallowed hard and thought about the guys who had stayed at the ship. _I hope those guys will be alright...Well, even though that Marimo bastard is such an idiot, he can take care of things if needed._

...

Meanwhile on Sunny-Go the sniper of the crew was doing his best to cool down their doctor. It was a shame he couldn't remove his fur and therefore he was sweating a lot and feeling a lot hotter than others.

"Sorry, Usopp," Chopper apologised while drinking cold water with ice cubes in it.

"Don't worry about it, Chopper!" Usopp reassured the small reindeer. He knew Chopper felt pretty useless at the moment but he couldn't help it.

Even Zoro had escaped the heat to the kitchen. He was trying to take a nap at the deck but saw no reason in roasting himself alive voluntarily. Besides, there was sake in the kitchen even though it was not cold sake.

"By the way, where is Franky?" Zoro asked suddenly.

"You are not going to search for him!" Usopp insisted before he answered the guestion. Zoro's ability to get lost was the reason why he was pretty much forced to stay on the ship,"He said he got something to do below the deck so I guess he is working in Weapon's development room."

Just when he finished speaking, Franky stepped into the kitchen. Thin layer of sweat was covering his skin but it was probably because of the metal in his body: metal heated up pretty easily,"It's finally ready!" Franky said.

"What is?" Usopp inquired curiously.

"New SUUPEER cooler, it will cool down the kitchen in no time!" Franky praised his new invention and pulled a mysterious box with mysterious buttons into the kitchen.

"We can really count on you in times like this, Franky!" Usopp cheered.

...

Inside the pirate mansion, two men and one woman stood at the window, looking at the small group of pirates getting closer.

"So, Strawhat pirates, eh?" One of them spoke up. He had black, curly hair and really light-blue eyes.

"Yes, captain Dess," the woman stepped forward,"Some of them are not in the group over there so we suppose they are taking another way or protecting their ship."

"Have you recognised the members of this group, then?" The black-haired man, apparently captain Dess, asked.

"Yes. First of all, their captain Strawhat Luffy, bounty 400 million," the woman started, "Then there is Humming Brook, bounty 33 million. Blackleg Sanji, bounty 77 million. Devil's child Nico Robin, bounty 80 million and burglar cat Nami, bounty 16 million."

"Oh? That's pretty impressive," captain Dess admitted and thought for a while,"Who are the other members of the crew?"

"There is king of snipers Sokeking, bounty 30 million. Cyborg Franky, bounty 44 million. Pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro, bounty 120 million. And then their crew has a pet, Tony Tony Chopper, bounty 50."

"Quite impressive indeed," captain Dess smirked and fell silent for a while. Nobody of them spoke up for a while before the black-haired man stood up,"Please welcome our guests, Sara," He adviced and took off.

"Are you sure about that, captain Dess?" the woman called Sara asked to make sure but she realised their captain had made up his mind.

"Of course, my dear", he smiled widely but then got serious,"And I trust your power, Sara, if there is any trouble, is that clear?"

"Of course, my captain,"the woman bowed deeply and left the room, closing the door after her and her captain.

The third person in the room stayed there, not sure if he should move or not,"Excuse me, but I was here too..." He tried to shout after his captain but nobody heard him.

...

"It's huge!" Luffy shouted in awe when he stood in front of the pirate mansion. It seemed like he forgot how tired he had felt a while ago.

"Of course it is, it's a shitty pirate mansion!" Sanji sighed and hoped the idiot would not get any crazy ideas.

"I doubt if somebody lives here..." Nami wondered but then she noticed the footprints in the sand: it was windy so any footprint should have disappeared when the wind had blown the sand.

"Hey, is anyone home?!" Luffy shouted when he opened the apparent front door.

"YOU CAN'T INVADE SOMEONE'S HOUSE LIKE THAT, YOU IMPOLITE BASTARD!" Sanji raged and kicked the idiot away from the door. He was about to kick their captain again but was stopped when he saw a glimbse of a very rare beauty.

"Nice to meet you and welcome to our mansion! I am Sara!" the red haired woman introduced herself and then she realised the dumbfounded blond," And who might you be?"

"For you I could be anyone, my dear!" Sanji swooned and took her hand, placing a small kiss on the back of her hand. Sara turned bright red at the sudden action and jerked her hand away.

"Sorry! I didn't mean it!" Sara staggered but her flustered appearance told a clear message: she was pretty embarrased by the chef's action. She took a few deep breaths and calmed down pretty quickly,"Please, come in! Our boss wants to throw a party for you!"

"A PARTY?!" Luffy cheered, sounding extremely happy. Nami sighed but knew they had no other option but to follow their overly-trusting captain.

...

Zoro opened his eyes in the middle of his nap. Even though he was a deep sleeper, he easily woke up when he felt a threat close-by. He looked around and went to the deck.

"Oi joi, Zoro, what are you doing? You should stay in one place! We don't want you getting lost!" Usopp asked but realised something was bothering the swordman.

"Somebody is close ,"he said mysteriously and Usopp's legs started to shake immediately after hearing it.

"An enemy?!" Usopp inquired but Zoro shook his head.

"I don't know if he is an enemy or not but we should watch out," Zoro adviced and was about to go back to the kitchen when a black, curly-haired man with light-blue eyes jumped on the deck.

"He is here!" Usopp shouted with a shaking voice and Zoro put his hand on top of his swords, preparing for a fight but not quite sure if there was going to be a fight or not.

...


	2. Not acceptable behavior

Here goes the second chapter of this fanfic! I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I do! :) I will publish these chapters maybe a little slower than I usually do but I promise that I will release at least one chapter a week! I usually have the habbit of releasing a chapter/day :D

_Sanji thinking_

...

The pirate mansion was bigger than they had thought. Apparently there were many underground floors but that wasn't the only reason the place looked so big: everything was pure white.

"What an amazing mansion!" Nami took her time to admire her surroundings and Robin was checking a bookshelf just next to the front door.

"This mansion is at least two hundred years old and every generation has worked hard to keep the mansion in a good shape. It's sort of a tradition, actually,"Sara chuckled slightly but covered her mouth.

"What was the pirate flag on top of the building? We thought this was some sort of pirate mansion,"Robin inquired and tried not to be too curious.

"Ah, that flag!" Sara laughed a little, genuine laugh,"It's a part of our family history. This pirate mansion was build by a famous pirate around two hundred fifty years ago. He retired from his career as a pirate and wanted to have a peaceful place to stay where nobody could find him."

"A pirate getting retired?" Brook wondered,"But isn't it every pirates' dream to die fighting for his life?"

Sara tensed for a while but then relaxed again,"Well, he was a little different from the others. He was...forced to live as a pirate and he just wanted to be free, just a normal human who could get a family on his own and live a peaceful live without all the fighting."

Sanji blinked at the story,"That was a beautiful story, my lady!" Sanji praised and Sara blushed again.

"So how comes you live in this mansion and continue the tradition?" Nami inquired carefully: she didn't want to raise suspicions.

"Actually, captain Dess is ruling this place",She explained and saw the suspicious looks around her," He is a distant relative of the pirate's brother who was just a commoner!"

"Then why is such a beautiful lady greeting us instead of the owner?" Brook asked. He was well aware of the old habits.

Sara blushed again but this time at the guestion of a certain skeleton,"I am engaged with the owner," she finally admitted and everyone heard the dissapointed breath which escaped Sanji's mouth.

...

Black haired man stood steadily on the deck of the Strawhats ship. Even thought the man had a relaxed gesture, Zoro was ready to attack anytime.

"Hello there, Strawhat pirates!" the man spoke out,"I am captain Dess from that pirate mansion your friends went to investigate!"

"Wha-Wha-What do you want with us?!" Usopp staggered which caused captain Dess to laugh a little, loud laugh.

"Don't worry, I am not here to cause any trouble!" Captain Dess tried to reassure the restless members of the crew,"I just wanted to invite the rest of you to a party at our mansion!"

"A party?!" Chopper cheered. He was feeling better because of the cooler Franky had built.

They decided to go to the party, everyone expect their shipwright who decided to stay on the ship,"Sorry, but I can't leave our Sunny-Go alone. You guys go and enjoy the feast!"

Zoro had his suspicions but he decided to go to the mansion. He just needed to keep an eye on their surroundings. Besides, maybe he could get a chance to drink sake as much as he could this time.

...

The party was hilarious as always when Strawhats were included. Luffy forced five chefs to work at the same time to keep up with his appetite and Zoro drank almost all of their sake. Chopper enjoyed sweet deserts to his heart's content and Usopp bragged about his adventures with a pride of a pirate. Robin and Nami taste-tested everything carefully and Sanji inquired about the new flavours he couldn't recognise. Brook took care of the music when nobody refused and offer coming from the famous Soul King.

Party had started immediately after captain Dess returned to the mansion with Chopper, Usopp and Zoro. Luffy had wondered why Franky had decided to stay out of the party but everyone else realised somebody had to take care of their ship and guard it in case something happened.

Captain Dess had introduced himself to Luffy and they got along pretty well from the start. Captain Dess was somehow a fool comparable to Luffy, actually: really laid-back person who didn't worry about all the dangers too much. He was really enjoying himself.

Sanji paid attention to how Sara behaved when captain Dess was around her. She tensed every time the black haired man touched her and kept her distance. It was somehow weird and Sanji couldn't miss it.

When he saw the chance he pulled Sara out of the crowd and used his gentle smile to reassure the young lady,"Is there something wrong with you and captain Dess? Aren't you engaged?" He wanted to help a lady whether she was single or taken.

Sara blinked at the guestion and turned his face so that Sanji could not really see what kind of face she was making,"We have our own problems but it's nothing we couldn't solve!" she admitted and sighed deeply,"My destiny lead me here!" She was smiling happily but Sanji could see it was not a genuine smile: it was not a smile of a happy woman. He decided to stay quiet, however, because he didn't want to push it.

Sanji took Sara back to everyone else and the party went on. At some point of the evening he noticed Zoro getting closer to him and finally he was so close that he could whisper something to the chef's ear,"Keep an eye on your surroundings. They are watching you."

The blond couldn't figure out what the swordman meant but he nodded slightly. It paid nothing to watch out for any trouble.

...

*An hour ago*

When Dess had returned back to the mansion, one of his close crewmembers came to him and asked Dess to listen to him.

"What is it, Dennis?" Captain Dess asked quietly because Strawhats were pretty close to them and he didn't want to raise any suspicions. He had decided to be the nice guy, after all.

"I don't know if I should be worried about this but...one of the Strawhat crew, that blond with a suit, was acting pretty...weirdly around Sara..."

"Oh, Blackleg Sanji, I assume? How did he act exactly?" Captain Dess inquired. He didn't want to get angry for no reason.

"Well, he was probably flirting with her and I think by the looks of it, Sara found it pretty awkward..." Dennis told his suspicions.

"Well well, that's not to be accepted, is it?" Captain Dess smirked before he signaled to Sara to get a little closer to him.

"What is it, captain Dess?" She asked, trying to hide her worry.

"Did that blond man flirt with you?" Captain Dess inquired and saw Sara blushing,"You have no reason to feel ashamed, it's not your fault!"

"You are going to do something to him, aren't you? I can vouch for him, he is not a bad guy!" Sara tried to smile a little but then she felt a strong grip on her shoulder.

"Look, Sara. I can't let anyone get you, okay?" Captain Dess said, grabbing harder on the delicate woman's shoulder, causing Sara to wince a little. Then he took his hand away and touched her cheek gently,"I love you and you know it, don't you?"

Sara tried to stop her body from shaking and hide how scared she was,"Yes, I know, and I am ready to do everything for you!"

"Good", Captain Dess smirked and headed towards the crowd. He stopped after a few steps and smiled at Sara,"I trust you can take care of that blond guy."

Sara gulped but luckily Captain Dess couldn't see it,"As you wish, my captain."

...

*Back to present*

It was already dark outside when the Strawhats decided to return back to their ship. Even though Luffy would have liked to party all night long, everyone else wanted to have a good night's sleep.

"You can sleep here in my mansion if you want to!" Captain Dess offered. He was slightly drunk because he had tried to compete with Zoro.

"No need to, we don't want to cause any trouble for you and your lovely fianceé!" Sanji reassured but Captain Dess was not going to give up so easily.

"Please, it's my pleasure!" He insisted,"We have got empty rooms for every member of your crew, comfortable beds and nice peace and quiet!"

Luffy was the one to give in to the idea. He wasn't ready to cross the desert again even though they knew deserts got cooler during the night. Besides, it couldn't be half bad: these people had given them lots to eat and lots to drink so what bad could happen to them during the night?

What, indeed?

...


	3. Small separation and nightly attack

Here goes the third chapter! It's really good I have got sort of a beta reader even though I doubt she will read the "hot stuff" at the end :_D She is not official but she will check my texts for stupid mistakes :D It's good to have someone "not-writer" to read my stories before publishing because the writer often doens't realise his/her own mistakes :) But please enjoy and reviews are appreciated!

...

Everyone of the Strawhat crew got a room on their own. The pirate mansion had many underground floors and a lot more space than an average person with a fianceé and few servants would need. They had explaned that since they liked to organise parties, they had wanted to have more space so that they could give all the visitors a place to sleep. It seemed like they weren't short of money to affort this mansion and organize parties to every visitor they had.

There were eight rooms in every floor and there was a total of eight floors. All of the Strawhats were located to the same floor but one of the rooms had a leaking water pipe so one of them had to take a room from some other floor.

"Well, if other Strawhats are in the seventh floor then one of you could take a room in the sixth floor which is closest to the stairs?" Captain Dess suggested and everyone approved the idea,"The first two rooms in the floor seven would be fitting for your crew's beautiful ladies, I think!"

"The ones close to the stairs?"Nami asked,"What's so special about them?"

"They just have this...feminine touch in them. My lovely fianceé designed the rooms, that's why!" Captain Dess explained and Nami looked at Sara.

"That's amazing! I would love to sleep in that room!" Nami praised and Sara smiled.

"Actually, I noticed you watching those bookshelfs earlier, am I right?" Sara inquired and Robin nodded.

"I like reading and I am really interested in history," Robin admitted and Sara smiled.

"Oh that's right, I heard you were an archeologist! I can bring you some books from our library once you are settled, is that okay?" Sara suggested.

"That would be lovely," Robin nodded and smiled gently.

"Okay, I will give all of you a separate keys to your rooms. We wanted to keep those rooms sort of private so that our guests could feel at ease!" Sara explained and shared the keys, stopping in front of Sanji,"Is it okay if you sleep in the sixth floor?"

"For you, my lady, I could sleep anywhere,"Sanji bowed like a gentleman and took the key.

...

Everyone went to check their own rooms. Even the rooms for visitors were humongous with humongous sized beds. Every room had a separate bathroom with king-sized bathtub. There was even a kitchen the same size as Thousand Sunny's kitchen with lots of food in every room.

When everyone had took their time to look around their rooms, they started to prepare for a proper night's sleep. They were given pyjamas from the mansion and Sara did her best to fulfill every request their visitors made expect Brook's request of showing her panties.

"Here are few books for you, Robin-san", Sara spoke politely,"These three are only copies so if you would like to, you can take them with you."

"Thank you,Sara-san", Robin smiled her gently smile again,"Would you tell me more about the history of this place?"

Robin pointed at the empty seat at the other side of the table and Sara nodded.

"Of course!" Sara almost laughed before she sat down,"What would you like to know?"

"Anything is fine for me. Just tell what you know," Robin said and offered some coffee for Sara who took a sip and relaxed to tell a story.

"Well, the man who built this place around 250 years ago was called Felix Dess",she started simply,"He was a pretty normal man with pretty normal dreams according to his diary: he dreamed of a family and a nice, big house in the countryside. Then he got these mysterious powers after a businesstrip and then one accident occured and he had to escape."

"An accident?" Robin inquired because she didn't want to miss some important part of the story.

"We don't know much about it because the page was ripped off from the diary..." Sara sighed but went on with the story,"Apparently he did something which angered the officers by accident and then, suddenly, he was a wanted criminal. He hated his powers which caused only trouble to everyone close to him and he decided to retire alone after he had built this huge mansion. He probably hoped that someone would live a normal life in here."

Robin took her time to think of the story,"Do you have any idea of his powers?"

Sara seemed to tense at the guestion but then she shoke her head,"I...don't know...there is no information about his powers...he probably hated his powers so much that he wanted to hide them as well as he could." Sara seemed to feel sorry for the poor man who couldn't reach his simple dreams.

"Could his powers be from Devil's fruit?" Robin asked because she was getting pretty curious about the missing pieces in the history of the mansion.

"What are those?" Sara asked as if she didn't know about the famous devil's fruits.

"You don't know about them even if you live in the New World?" Robin doubted her realisation.

"I have never heard of them. I have...lived in this mansion for a long time and I haven't really heard of the outside world", Sara sounded somehow depressed but looked at Robin with a hopeful smile,"What are those? Could you tell me about the world outside this island?"

Robin was confused by the sudden guestion but didn't mind explaining,"Devil's fruits are fruits which give you some extraordinary powers. There are three types of them: paramecia is the one who gives it's users some superhuman physical abilities or powers such as creating a shock wave or generating wax, then there is zoan type which gives it's user a power to switch into an animal or beast and then there is logia user's who can change their body into some other material."

"That sounds amazing!" Sara got excited all of the sudden,"Have you seen many devil fruits?!"

"Yes, I am devil fruit user myself," Robin admitted and saw the excitement in the young girls eyes.

"What kind of a power you have?!" Sara inquired and Robin could sense the genuine interest the young girl had towards the unknown.

"I have eaten hana-hana no mi", Robin said and made few arms appear on the table in front of her,"It means I can make a parts of my body blossom everywhere."

"That's amazing!" Sara praised,"Are there many other powers too?"

"Well, our doctor, the small reindeer, has eaten hito-hito no mi which gives him human-kind abilities such as talking or learning like humans. Then we have the skeleton guy who has yomi yomi no mi which brought him back from the land of dead. And of course our captain who is a rubber-person."

"Rubber-person? Does it mean he has eaten something like gomu-gomu no mi? Does it mean he can stretch?!" Sara asked and Robin nodded slightly,"Then what other fruits are there in the outside world?!"

"Well, there was Ener who had a goro-goro no mi and he was able to control thunder. Then there was one Marine officer who could change his body into smoke and then there was someone who could change himself into a leopard with his neko-neko no mi powers," Robin gave yet few examples and then a short silence fell between the two females.

"Ah! I have been sitting here for way too long!" Sara suddenly gasped and stood up,"Thanks for your time, it was really enjoyable!"

"May I ask you something before you leave?" Robin asked suddenly and Sara nodded after a while of hesitation,"Why are you so interested in these devil's fruits?"

Sara seemed to think of what to say for a while before he answered,"I just found it really interesting!"

Robin didn't quite believe her explanation but nodded anyways and let the girl leave.

...

Meanwhile at Sunny-Go Franky was getting ready to sleep too before he heard some noises coming from outside. As if someone was climbing up the mast of Sunny-Go.

"Is somebody there? You better surrender yourself peacefully!" Franky threatened before he heard a long, ripping noise as if someone was tearing up a fabric. Then he realised someone was destroying their sails. He didn't hesitate to attack whoever was trying to destroy the sail but the enemy escaped as soon as he prepared to shoot him down.

"What the hell was that?!" Franky wondered and used his perverted searching lights to see the damage the enemy had made. Luckily the main mast's sail with the strawhat-logo hadn't suffered any damage but the other sails were in a pretty bad shape.

"This is just my luck...I am a man! I am not meant to sew sails!" Franky cursed before somebody stepped on the deck.

"What happened here?!" An unfamiliar voice with a torch asked,"I heard there some noises coming from here but apparently I wasn't fast enough!"

"Who are you?" Franky asked.

"Oh, excuse my bad habits! My name is Dennis, I am from the pirate mansion over there! Your friends send you a message that they will be spending the night in the mansion!" the man introduced himself.

"A messenger, huh?" Franky wondered,"How can I trust you?"

"I don't know...Ah that's right! Your captain didn't want to cross the desert again and he had eaten a little bit too much to move so they decided to stay there! Is that enough?"

"I think that's enough," Franky reassured and looked at the sails again.

"Do you need some assistance with those sails?" Dennis offered his help.

"I will fix them tomorrow, now I need some sleep," Franky said and headed towards the boys bedroom.

"Do you want to send a message back to your friends? I am heading back to the mansion," Dennis inquired.

"Actually you could inform them that the sail is pretty badly damaged after that weird attack and I need some time to fix it tomorrow!" Franky told and Dennis nodded before he vanished into the dark night.

...


	4. Zoro to the rescue!

Fourth chapter! When I was planning this story, I thought it would be the shortest of my One Piece fanfics but then I realised I was seriously wrong! This might become as the longest one of my fanfics! XD I got carried away with the idea and I want to play with our boys ( and girls ) a lot XP But please, enjoy! :) There will be ZoSan in the later chapters so please be patient! :)

...

Sanji was changing into pyjama when he heard a silent knock on the door.

"Wait a minute!" Sanji shouted and hoped that whoever was behind the door, could wait until he changed his clothes.

_Who could it be this late?_

Finally he finished buttoning the shirt and went to open the door,"Sara-chan!" Sanji greeted, "What are you doing up so late? You should be sleeping or your stunning beauty will suffer!"

Sara blushed again,"I just came to ask if everything was alright in here! Do you need something?"

Sanji blinked at the guestion,"It's enough for me if you get enough sleep tonight!" Sanji swooned like usual and he really meant it. He was really happy just making a lady happier.

"Really? Then I will head to my room too! Goodnight, Sanji-san!" Sara said, excusing herself.

"Good night, my dear!" Sanji said and closed the door. It was already past midnight and he was feeling pretty tired and all he wanted to do was fall into a nice slumber of sleep.

...

Nami and Robin slept in the rooms 71 and 72 which were the closest ones to the stairs. Next to them was Luffy in the room 73 who snored loudly. Zoro was in the room 76 and Chopper and Usopp were in the rooms between their captain and their swordman because they felt like they were safe between two monsters. Brook was in the room 77.

Zoro woke up in the middle of the night and he didn't even manage to stay in his own room. He got lost in the big mansion but somehow he ended up in the room 78 where there at least should have been some leaking water pipe. There was none. Even Zoro was clever enough to realise all of the pipes were totally fine and something fishy was going on.

He decided to check on Sanji even though he doubted that he could find the chef's room without getting lost again. He remembered that the room was number 61 so it should have been easy to find but not for Zoro.

Finally, after many hours of searching, he found the room 61 and knocked the door carefully but loudly enough to be heard. Soon the blond-haired man opened the door and glared at the green-haired man,"Do you know what time is it, Marimo?!" He hissed angrily and rubbed his eyes.

"I know excatly what time is it," Zoro said in his usual, calm tone.

"Well? What's the time?" Sanji inquired.

"It's midnight," Zoro answered the stupid guestion.

"It's four o'clock in the morning, you idiot!" Sanji hissed and covered his eyes from the light coming from the hallway. It was too bright for his liking and Zoro noticed it too.

"What? You have a hangover or something?" Zoro suggested and grinned widely.

"It's not that! I drank nothing during the party!" Sanji explained and leaned on the door frame. He was swaying a lot.

Then Zoro smelled the weird smell coming from the room number 61. It stang in his nose and burned his eyes. He looked at the blond in front of him who smirked as if he was flirting, "Hey Ero-cook, are you alright?" Zoro asked suddenly when he realised there must be some sort of gas in the air.

"I am fine, now let me go back to sleep, you idiot!" Sanji said and tried to close the door but Zoro pulled the door open again.

"Idiot! Can't you realise there is gas in your room?!" Zoro raised his voice a little and Sanji tensed a little.

"A...gas, you say?" Sanji staggered,"I have noticed nothing!"

"Probably because it has been leeking slowly into the room and you have gotten used to the smell!" Zoro used his brains for once," .Check," Zoro spoke with his usual, annoying tone.

"Don't order me around!" Sanji hissed while he wobbled back to the room.

"Where do you think you are going?" Zoro inquired.

"I have to get the key and lock the door,"Sanji explained and disappeared behind the corned for a while before he appeared again,"We don't want this gas leeking in other rooms, do we?"

Zoro nodded and turned towards Chopper's room before Sanji grabbed his sleeve,"If you are looking for the room 75, I think it's in this direction,"Sanji said in a mocking tone and pulled the swordman with him.

...

"Gas? In his room?" Chopper inquired and squinted his eyes. Their doctor had been sleeping before they woke him up. It was half past four in the morning.

"I smelled it pretty clearly when he opened the door. It burned my eyes and he was acting oddly so there was no doubt about it," Zoro explained the situation and Chopper nodded.

"Sanji, open your eyes, okay?" Chopper reguested and Sanji opened his blue eyes and stared at the blue-nosed reindeer,"Your pupils are wider..." Chopper sighed and thought for a different options for a while,"Do you have any headache? Are you feeling sick? Or is there any other symptoms worth mentioning?" Chopper inquired.

"I don't know...I just feel kind of dizzy and maybe a little sick but nothing else, I guess?" Sanji explained and rubbed his temples with his thumbs.

"Okay. I will take Zoro to his room, you can sleep on the couch," Chopper said and felt the swordman staring at him.

"You don't need to babysit me!" Zoro hissed.

"We know that you will only wander around until somebody finds you!" Chopper almost yelled at the swordman.

Before Chopper opened the door, Zoro stopped him and turned to look at Sanji,"By the way, there is nothing wrong with the room 78."

...

"Sanji-kun!" Nami shouted, knocking the door of the room 61,"Open up, it's time for us to leave!"

"What is it? Something wrong?" Sara asked when he climbed the stairs to sixth floor.

"Sanji-kun is not opening the door," Nami explained and sighed deeply. It was rather unusual for Sanji not to answer her call.

"If you are looking for that idiot, he is in Chopper's room,"Zoro said, startling the ladies.

"Zoro! Did something happen during the night?" Nami inquired and saw the worried look on Sara's face.

"There was some gas in his room so he slept in Chopper's,"Zoro explained shortly. He didn't want to give any extra information to Sara because he didn't trust the woman.

"Probably just some gas pipe leaking!" Sara suggested,"I will talk to captain Dess, we have to fix the problem as soon as possible!" Then she remembered what she was supposed to do, "Ah, that's right! Please join us and eat breakfast with us!"

"We don't want to be a burden to all of you..." Nami started but was interrupted by a shout coming from the room 73.

"BREAKFAST!"

...

Sanji couldn't eat anything that morning. He had vomited once and he was feeling like he would vomit again if he was going to eat something.

"You can go, Chopper, I can manage!" Sanji reassured the small doctor because he knew how much Chopper wanted to join everyone else.

"If you are sure..." Chopper nodded and smiled slightly before he closed the door behind him.

Sanji closed his eyes and thought about the events for a while. It was just a normal gas leak, right? It didn't mean that somebody wanted to drug them with some gas!

_I am probably thinking too much...maybe the gas is making me overreact to everything?_

He laid on the sofa and sighed deeply. It was not normal for pirates to be this friendly to everyone but maybe they were an expection. They seemed like a bunch of nice people who were as simple as Luffy: they just liked to party and have fun.

Sanji didn't even realise when he had fallen asleep but he woke up when all of the Strawhats expect Franky came to the room. They had eaten their stomach's full and it looked like their captain could explode any minute.

"There seems to be some trouble at Sunny-Go,"Nami informed Sanji who didn't understand why everyone had gathered like this,"Somebody or something attacked our ship during the night and destroyed our sails. NOT the main mast's sail, Luffy," She added when she saw the angry look on their captain's face,"Franky had apparently said that it might take a whole day to fix it so it means we are stuck here until tomorrow at least."

"Captain Dess suggested that we could stay for another night but I don't really like that man. There is something suspicious about him,"Robin said.

"Yeah. But maybe we should take up the offer? I mean, there is definitely something going on and I want to figure out what!" Nami suggested but not everyone felt so sure about it.

"It's not that simple,"Zoro joined the conversation,"They tried to drug Ero-cook and now they are playing innocent, just blaming a normal gas leak."

"How can you be so sure about that?" Sanji inquired. He couldn't understand what was so special about it. It had been just a normal gas leak, right?

"Think about it: they lied that one of the rooms on this floor had a leaking water pipe to separate you from us," Zoro explained but something was missing.

"And?" Sanji asked because he wasn't really believing the theory.

"And then that woman wouldn't have arrived to your door if Nami hadn't been there. She didn't even expect you to join everyone for breafast", Zoro explained. He had been surprisingly sharp to realise these small things,"And now we can't sail our ship. Doesn't it look a lot like they just want to delay our leave?"

"Wait a little, Zoro! We can't blame them without clear evidence!" Nami reasoned,"We can't say for sure if the gas leak was an accident or not, or we can't tell if Sara simply forgot Sanji! And yet, we can't know if these guys attacked our ship! It might be anyone!"

Luffy seemed to be deep in thought until finally, he spoke out,"We will stay here," he decided.

"Are you sure about that, captain-san?" Robin inquired and Luffy nodded.

"We just have to be careful and not let anything slip by us!" Luffy grinned," And whatever they might have planned for us is going to fail!"

"You are right, captain",Zoro vouched for his captain,"It's not like we are some weaklings like two years ago!"

"Then how about Franky?" Nami asked. She didn't really want to let the hentai stay alone on the ship if there was some unknown enemy hanging around.

"I could return back to the ship,"Usopp suggested,"I can help him fix the sail so that we can leave early tomorrow morning."

"Something caught my interest so I want to return back to the ship and check it,"Robin explained but she didn't bother to explain further, the mysterious woman she was.

"I don't want to cross that desert again!" Chopper whined.

"Me too! My bones will get lighter and I will be eaten by wild dogs!" Brook joined the conversation.

"I want to have a party again!" Luffy cheered and somehow everyone doubted if he even remembered to be cautions.

"I want to see if something interesting happens here!" Zoro grinned like a wild animal who was hunting his prey.

"I could check if they have some information for my maps!" Nami said, sounding pretty hopeful,"I heard their library has got a vast collection of various different kinds of books!"

"I am not going anywhere for a while,"Sanji admitted to himself that he was not feeling really well, at least not well enough to cross a boiling hot desert.

...


	5. Assumptions

Fifth chapter! The previous chapter was longer than I thought but what can you do when you get carried away with the story? XP Reviews, follows and favorites are appreciated and they are the easiest way to support my work and cheer me on! :)

...

There was a very gentle knock on the door and Chopper opened it, seeing Sara at the other side of the door,"Is Sanji-san here?"

"Is that my lovely Sara-chan?!" Sanji shouted cheerfully even though he felt like shit.

Sara stepped inside carefully and kneeled in front of the blond chef who was laying on the couch,"Just lay down, you don't have to sit up for me!"

"What brings you here?" Sanji inquired politely.

"I just came to see you", Sara said and blushed slightly again,"I heard that there was some gas leaking to your room...I am sorry about that..."

"It's alright! I am fine, you see?" Sanji reassured the young lady who managed a small smile.

"So how are you feeling?" Sara asked, smiling gently at the chef.

"I can't lie to a lady so I am honest: I feel like shit," Sanji answered,regretting his bad language but Sara just chuckled slightly at the answer.

"Well, at least you were honest," Sara said, still chuckling slightly.

"Do you have any books about cooking or any recipes in this mansion?" Sanji inquired: he needed something to do so that he wouldn't feel so useless just laying around.

"Actually, we have one old recipe book which could be interesting for you",Sara explained happily,"Would you like to read it?"

"Of course! Anything you suggest is fine by me, Sara-chan!" Sanji swooned and Sara stood up to leave but then she suddenly bend over him and kissed him to his cheek, close to the ear. Sanji was so delighted by the kiss that he almost missed Sara whispering one word to his ear:

"Escape"

...

Nami went to the mansion's library to check for any information for her maps. To her surprise there were one big bookshelf full of books about maps. She couldn't help smiling widely.

"Excuse me but...what are you doing?" Sara asked when she appeared on the door frame.

"I am drawing maps!" Nami answered honestly and returned to her work. Sara stared at her for a while before she stepped in to take a closer look at her work.

"You are pretty skilled!" Sara praised the navigator's work,"Why are you drawing these?"

"I want to draw a map of the world!" Nami smiled at the young girl.

"Such an ambitious dream",Sara sighed,"I wish I had one like that!"

Nami blinked,"Well it's not really a big dream comparable to Luffy's, Zoro's or Chopper's. We are a weird crew and each of us has got their own dreams they want to fulfill."

"Really? What kinds of dreams you have?" Sara inquired.

"Well, Luffy wants to find One Piece and become the king of pirates. Zoro wants to become the best swordman in the world. Chopper wants to cure every disease," Nami explained and there was a genuine trust in her voice: she didn't doubt her friends dreams.

"Then how about the others?" Sara inquired. Apparently she wanted to know everything possible or then she was just trying to be polite and chat a little.

"Well, Brook wants to meet up with his old friend, Usopp wants to be a brave warrior of the sea, Robin wants to solve the missing pieces in history and Franky wants to sail the dream ship he has built."

"He built your ship?!" Sara gasped,"I would love to see it! Ah, that reminds me, I haven't met Franky-san yet."

"You can come with us when we are preparing to leave tomorrow morning and then return back here,"Nami suggested and smiled a reassuring smile.

"Does Sanji-san have a dream?" Sara asked and a small blush appeared on her face. Nami noticed it but said nothing.

"Yeah, he wants to find All Blue."

"What's that?" Sara asked. The look on her face told that she had no idea.

"You don't know All Blue? Then you should ask Sanji-kun about it! I don't know a lot about it myself!" Nami suggested and Sara smiled brightly.

"Then I will go ask about it!" Sara said, rushing off from the library.

...

"All Blue?" Sanji asked,"Why do you want to know about it?"

"I heard about it from Nami-san and she suggested that I ask you about it!" Sara explained and smiled gently.

"Well, I don't know much about it either", Sanji sighed,"All I know is that it's a miracle sea of every chef. It's a place where you can find every fish on this world."

"Sanji-san, are you a chef?" Sara asked stupidly. She was somehow simple because she hadn't understood why Sanji had asked books about cooking or recipies.

"I am, indeed, a pretty good one!" Sanji praised himself and grinned. He was feeling a lot better than in the morning already.

"Could you cook something for me? I would love to taste food made by you!" Sara got excited and almost jumped off from her chair.

"Of course! Whatever for you, my dear Sara-chan!" Sanji swooned and stood up,"Any preferences?"

Sara shoke her head and smiled,"I leave it up to you!"

...

"Hey, Franky!" Usopp shouted when they returned back to the Sunny-Go,"Do you need any help with the sails?"

"Perfect timing!" Franky praised,"You know, I am meant to build ships, not sew sails!"

Robin chuckled slightly at the answer,"I could give you a helping hand too while I check something from my books!"

"That's cheating, Robin!" Usopp whined,"It's so unfair that she can use her powers to do her work!"

"Did you say something, Longnose-kun?" Robin asked with a creepy smile on her face.

"Nothing!" Usopp stated quickly and went to help Franky,"By the way, do you have any idea of who attacked the ship last night?"

Franky rubbed his jaw slowly before he answered,"Actually I have no idea. But whoever attacked the ship had nails strong enough to rip our sails like this,"he pointed at the sails and saw the horrified look on their sniper's face.

"Some sort of wild animal?" Usopp suggested. He rather hoped that it had been a wild animal than some zoan-type devil fruit user.

"I doubt it", Franky sighed,"Because why would a wild animal attack the sails when there was a hentai like me to be hunted?"

Usopp got Franky's point but he didn't like the idea of a zoan-ability. He would rather fight a fishman again.

...

"Hey Sanji! Join us for a party!" Luffy shouted happily and Sanji blocked his ears.

"You don't need to shout, you gomu-idiot!" Sanji preached,"I will be there shortly, just wait a minute!"

Luffy rushed off to the dining room on his own and left Sanji alone in Chopper's room.

"Are you feeling fine enough for a party?" Chopper inquired, he was the doctor after all.

"I am feeling almost perfect, thanks to your treatment, doctor Chopper," Sanji praised the small doctor who tried to hide his feelings.

"Praising me won't make me happy,you asshole!"

...

The party was as loud as the party they had the day before. They still had plently of food in their secret food storages which apparently had some master-locks in them since Luffy hadn't found them after eating all the food in his room.

Sanji had a chance to talk with the chef who was in charge of everything in their kitchen. He was rather curious about the recipes he had read from the old book Sara had brought to him. The chef had no trouble explaining all the details, in fact he was pretty delighted to share some information to a promising, young chef like Sanji.

...

Back at the Thousand Sunny, Robin was reading her books. She wanted to check if her assumptions were correct.

"Yo, Robin!" Franky greeted the archeologist,"What are you doing?"

"Something raised my suspicions in the story I heard", Robin explained shortly,"And I think I have enough proof now."

"Oh?" Franky voiced out, not bothering to ask because he knew Robin had the habit of leaving some things unexplained.

"Sara, Captain Dess fianceé, told me that the man who built the mansion had some sort of strange powers and he spent most of his life hiding in the mansion because he didn't want to cause any trouble to anyone."

"Something like a devil fruit?" Franky asked and Robin nodded.

"I though about that and then I found some information about the mansion's builder from someone else's diary. He had described the man was pretty shy and he rarely met any people and avoided all kind of physical contact with everyone."

"In other words?" Franky inquired.

"In other words, it could refer to the fact that he had no control over his powers and whoever he touched, fell victim to his powers. That would explain why he was so hated,"Robin explained and fell silent.

"Then what does it have to do with the situation nowadays?" Franky wondered what the connection to the present was.

"I can't say for sure but it looks like there are some other traditions in the mansion also apart from taking care of the big building," Robin suggested.

"Such as?" Franky inquired again.

"Well, this is just my guess,but it looks like the power Felix Dess had has been a part of the mansion's history ever since. In short, a person with a similar powers has lived in the building almost all the time. There are only few years gaps without sign of those powers."

"You mean that those people have chased people with that devil fruit or the devil fruit itself all these years?" Franky asked and Robin nodded slightly.

"That could mean trouble," Robin sighed.

"What do you mean?"

Robin looked at the cyborg and answered,"Well, does someone in that mansion have the power or are they looking for it?"

Franky gulped and understood her point: if there was someone in the mansion who could use the unknown devil fruit's powers just by touching someone, they were in trouble.

...


	6. Plotting to get one gentleman down

Sixth chapter, yohohoho! I am writing too fast, too fast for my beta to have time to check my texts . Maybe I should slow down and try to fix my own mistakes as well as I can? :D But anyways, please enjoy and be patient for the action and "action" XP

Anoni-chan, thanks for the reviews :D I got both of them to my email but by some reason they are not published here yet :/ Just though to let you know! :D And those reviews really cheered me on!

...

Captain Dess looked around the room and stared at the blond chef pretty intensively. He didn't feel like partying at the moment even though Luffy was trying to cheer the man up. He had something else in his mind.

He went to greet Dennis the messenger who was sitting alone in one corner,"Hello Dennis!"

Dennis glared at the black-haired man and sighed deeply,"I know, you are wondering why that man is still alive," he said but didn't bother to answer the obvious guestion.

"Well?" Captain Dess inquired, sounding a little pissed off.

"If that swordman hadn't knocked his door, that blondie would have been dead, for sure, before the sunrise!" Dennis cursed and cluched his fist.

"Curse him! Curse the whole crew!" Captain Dess hissed,"Without the crew that blondie would have never arrived here and flirted with MY fianceé!"

"Are you going to do something about it?" Dennis suggested and grinned widely.

Captain Dess laughed loudly before he smirked,"That would be lovely, wouldn't it?"

Zoro couldn't miss the evil look on Dess' face but he said nothing. He just hoped that it wouldn't be too much trouble for the whole crew.

...

Everyone felt pretty tired after eating their stomach's full. Moving was difficult expecially to Strawhat Luffy who resembled more of a balloon than a human. Zoro had drank a lot more than usual and he was slightly drunk likelywise as Nami who had a great tolerance for alcohol.

Sanji was heading towards Chopper's room since his room was full of gas,"Is it okay if I stay here for another night?" He asked even though he knew the answer already.

"No problem!" Chopper said, smiling, as Sanji had predicted.

Sanji laid himself down on the sofa and Chopper stared at him,"Sanji?" the small doctor called out suddenly.

"What is it, Chopper?" Sanji wondered what could possibly bother the small doctor.

"I investigated that gas a little bit...and checked your symptoms..." Chopper started and fell silent.

"And?" Sanji inquired.

"Well, that gas is by no means normal gas...it's some sort of poison gas which shouldn't be kept close to humans, especially not in a living space for humans..." Chopper explained.

Sanji blinked before he understood what it meant,"So, in short, somebody really wanted to finish me off?" The small doctor nodded.

"But it's good that you are sleeping here now because if they try to do it again, I will smell the gas a lot earlier than you!" Chopper said, sounding really confident and Sanji smirked at the small doctor. "You should probably say 'thanks' to Zoro."

It took few seconds before Sanji understood what the doctor had said."Me?! Saying 'thanks' to that Marimo?! No way!" Sanji vowed but he was thinking of giving the idiot a bottle of sake back at the ship: he didn't want to owe anything to a green-haired bastard like him.

_Well, it's good that Chopper is here...but I doubt gas is the only trick they have in their sleeves..._

...

"Hey Luffy!" Zoro shouted out before the captain would close the door to his room,"You have a minute?"

Luffy rubbed his eyes but nodded,"What's wrong, Zoro?"

"Let's speak in your room,"Zoro suggested and went after Luffy and closed the door after them,"We need to be careful."

Luffy blinked and sat down on his bed,"Why is that?"

"That guy was acting weirdly tonight and glaring at us like a wild beast hunting his prey. I think he is going to make his move soon..." Zoro explained his visions.

"He might be going after Sanji first, you think?" Luffy asked and Zoro nodded.

"I don't know why though, I just have the feeling..." Zoro sighed and prepared to leave the room.

"Don't worry about it too much!" Luffy said cheerfully,"If something happens, we will take care of it!"

Zoro smirked at his captain,excited about the possible fight,"No problem!"

...

Brook woke up in the middle of the night. He heard someone walking slowly outside the door. It was around two o'clock in the morning and everyone should have been in their rooms already when the party had ended at ten o'clock.

He decided to check the hallway with his devil fruit powers: wandering around as a mere soul was a pretty creepy habit. He was thinking of sneaking into the girls rooms but decided to be serious this time.

He saw that guy called Dennis walking around in the hallway. He was clearly deep in thought. Brook watched the man for a while before he went trough the wall to room number 76.

"Ano...Zoro-san..." Brook called out, even tough he knew the swordman was a pretty deep sleeper who could sleep through storms.

It was a pure miracle how Zoro opened his eye almost immediatelly. Well, maybe he hadn't been sleeping at all.

"What is it, Brook?" Zoro asked.

"That Dennis-guy, the messenger, is walking in the hallway and acting pretty suspiciously," Brook reported what he had seen.

Zoro stood up carefully and went to press his ear against the door. He could hear someone, apparently Dennis, walking in the hallway,"What is he doing?"

"He is just walking back and forth in the hallway, looking around him pretty often as if checking if someone sees him,"Brook explained and Zoro nodded before he stepped out of the door.

"Hey Dennis!" Zoro greeted the man who tensed and looked at Zoro's direction,"What are you doing out here?"

"He is pretty straight-forward, that Zoro-san..." Brook sighed quietly.

"Ah, I just thought I heard something..." Dennis lied but Zoro noticed it: they had the worst liar on their ship all the time, after all.

"Really? Maybe a mouse?" Zoro suggested stupidly and played along.

"That could be the case...but nothing for you to get worried about! You can go back to sleep!" Dennis tried to reassure the swordman but Zoro was not going to give up so easily.

"I could help you look for that mouse!" Zoro offered his help against the non-existing mouse and they both knew it.

"It's fine really!" Dennis vowed and left towards the stairs before he felt a cold metal against his throat and he froze.

"I don't trust you guys. You are planning something, aren't you? And it has got something to do with Sanji?" Zoro interrogated the poor man whose destiny was up to Zoro and his sword. The use of the chef's real name meant that he was being death-serious.

"I can't tell you", Dennis answered simply,"I am just a messenger, there is no reason to kill me!"

Zoro thought about it for a second and let the man go,"Just for you to know, I won't hesitate to kill you even if you are just a messenger."

Dennis nodded at the swordman, shaking slightly. Something about the swordman gave him goosebumbs.

...

There was a low whistle outside the mansion. Captain Dess was standing at the roof of the mansion and whistling.

Soon there was a sound of flapping wings getting closer to Captain Dess. He grinned and heard a soft thud next to him when the one he had called out had landed on the roof next to him.

"Hey Pretty!" He greeted the familiar figure,"So how was your tour?"

"Those three Strawhats are sleeping quietly. I came to ask what would you like me to do," a low woman voice spoke out.

"That's great", Captain Dess said and grinned widely,"Do what you want, Pretty. I will send Dennis after you."

The woman called sarcastically as Pretty nodded and flew off towards Thousand Sunny. The moonlight revealed her beast-kind of form which included sharp nails and a long beak.

...

The loud explosion woke everyone up. The explosion came from the room 75, where Chopper and Sanji had been sleeping. Well, they had been sleeping before they woke up to the explosion or most likely, they were already dead.

"CHOPPER! SANJI!" Luffy shouted and rushed towards the room which was a total mess.

...


	7. The pervert is Strawhats archeologist?

Seventh chapter! Sorry to leave it to a cliff-hanger but I really love cliff-hangers! ( well, if I am the one writing them, not the one reading them :_D ). So I guess some of you are thinking like "Finally some action!" :D But please enjoy and thank you of the few reviews I have received! :) And follows and favorite too! :3

...

"CHOPPER! SANJI!" Luffy shouted and rushed towards the room which was now a total mess. Zoro rushed after him and noticed there was no blood in the room or no exploded body-parts.

"Where are those idiots?!" Zoro hissed, a little worried about both of them even though he didn't want to admit it.

"WE ARE FINE!" Sanji said and fell down from the hole he had kicked earlier on the roof. He had created them an escape route with his famous legs and he was carrying Chopper on his shoulder. Zoro sighed in relief to his surprise.

"Explosion's are scary!" Chopper whined.

"What was that explosion?!" Nami asked when she rushed to the scene too.

"Somebody tried to blow this room away with Ero-cook and Chopper," Zoro informed calmly.

"Are you guys alright?" Luffy asked and Chopper nodded.

"Thanks to Sanji...if it wasn't for him, I would be a roasted piece of meat!" Chopper praised the chef and Sanji smiled.

"My cigarettes are gone..." Sanji sighed when he realised his cigarettes had been on the table next to the sofa.

"Who cares about your cigarettes?" Zoro hissed and Sanji gave him an evil glare but said nothing.

"Yohohoho!" Brook laughed when he joined everyone in his soul-form.

"Okay, now that everyone is here, what should we do?" Nami asked,"We can't stay here, that's for sure!"

"Melorine is so lovely even when she is scared!" Sanji swooned even though he had been close to death just a while ago.

"We just need to kill those guys responsible for these events!" Zoro said and grinned. He was waiting for a fight as always.

"But we don't know which ones are guilty!" Nami reasoned,"We don't know if all the people here are our enemies or not!"

"Let's just kill them all!" Zoro stated and grinned even wider if possible. There was an evil look in his eye.

"Zoro-san is harsh as always!" Brook laughed,"I will go and pick up my body! I can't fight in this form."

It was just then that Luffy noticed the ghost-form of Brook's,"Brook, you are a-a-a-a ghost!" he staggered,"That's amazing!"

...

Usopp was the first one to wake up to the mysterious noises he heard from the outside. He had been sleeping calmly but then he heard something like wings flapping in the sky.

"Hey Franky",he whispered quietly and trying to poke the cyborg awake,"Someone is out there!"

The cyborg mumbled something before he sat up and tried to listen,"There is someone or something, that's for sure!"

Someone touched Usopp's shoulder and the man gasped before he realised it was their archeologist. Well, he gasped again when he realised only half of the archeologist was there.

"Robin! Don't scare me like that!" Usopp complained and Robin chuckled.

"What are you doing in the boys bedroom? Are you a pervert or something?" Franky asked and Robin glared at him.

"You must have noticed it too," Robin said, apparently referring to the someone or something lurking on their ship.

"Yes we noticed it too. Should we attack?" Franky suggested but Robin shoke her head.

"I will take a look around the ship first,"She said and closed her eyes.

It took a while for Robin to detect their enemy who was flying around the ship. She couldn't believe her eyes but then she thought that it was the New World after all and everything was possible.

"We are fighting against a rare power," Robin said but didn't bother to explain further as usual.

"What kind of enemy is it?!" Usopp inquired.

"She is a devil fruit user of a rare zoan-type called ' ancient zoan-type'. She looks like pterosaur to me," Robin explained and Usopp tensed.

"You mean those flying dinosaurs?" Franky asked and Robin nodded,"An annoying opponent, I would say."

The trio stepped on the deck and tried to see where the devil fruit user was.

"I don't want to fight that thing!" Usopp whined and felt somebody grabbing his shoulder again.

"That's great! Because I was looking for someone who would fight with me!"

Usopp recognised the voice and turned to face Dennis the messenger.

...

"We should look for Captain Dess first", Nami suggested,"Because he is the boss of this place, he should know everything that happens inside this building, whether he is an enemy or not!"

"Yosh! I will look for him!" Luffy vowed and ran off before Nami had time to stop him.

"That bastard..." Nami cursed and looked at everyone else in the room,"Brook, could you just simply look around? Your ability gives you the freedom to move freely...and look for treasures!" Zoro rolled his eye."Chopper,could you try to check if there are any other explosives in this place, or some other traps? You can smell better than anyone of us!"

Brook nodded even though he was a little annoyed by the solution,"I have to leave my body again...why did I even pick it up in the first place...?"

Chopper nodded and smiled widely."Leave it to me!"

"And take Zoro with you!" Nami ordered and glared Zoro with a look telling him not to argue with her.

"What should I do,Nami-san?!" Sanji swooned and Nami thought about it for a second.

"You could stay with me!" Nami suggested,"We don't know why but it seems like they are targetting you so you shouldn't wander alone..."

"That's fine by me! I will protect Nami-san with my life!" Sanji promised.

"Idiot," Zoro grumbled.

"What was that, you Marimo?!" Sanji hissed back at the green-haired man,"Are you jealous or something?"

"Nothing," Zoro answered and followed after Chopper.

...

Sara was standing next to Captain Dess in the dark room. She stared really seriously in front of her. "Sara, my darling," Captain Dess greeted the woman,"Why the long face?"

Sara didn't know what to answer. "I just can't understand. Why are you trying to kill Strawhats? They are nice people!"

Dess grinned at the guestion. "You don't know? That's fine! Whose side are you on?"

Sara hesitated for a while. "Yours, of course."

"Then why are you suspecting my decisions?" Captain Dess inquired.

"I am not suspecting them, I just thought that those people have done nothing wrong," Sara explained but didn't bother to argue further. "What would you like me to do?"

Captain Dess smirked at the woman and the smirk made cold shivers run through her spine. "You will bring the head of Blackleg Sanji to me, on a golden plate."

Sara stared at her fianceé for a while before she bowed deeply,"As you wish, my captain."

...

"What are we looking for?" Sanji inquired from Nami who was trying to think.

"I don't know," she finally admitted,"But something is bothering me. I think Sara is hiding something."

"Sara-chan?" Sanji asked. He doubted if the woman had some dark secret.

"I know it sounds stupid but...she is acting weirdly around other humans and keeping her distance..." Nami explained and Sanji nodded.

"Now that you mention it..." Sanji admitted that Nami was right but nothing proved that the woman was hiding something. "Robin-swan mentioned something about Sara-chan being really interested in the world outside this place and she had never heard of neither devil fruits or All Blue. It was like..."

"...like she had lived here for a long time and not allowed to get away?" Nami continued Sanji's unfinished sentence and the chef nodded,"But why would they do that?"

"I don't know..." Sanji sighed,"But should we try to find it out?"

"Find out what?" Nami asked.

"If she is our friend or foe, of course!" Sanji said and apparently hoped that she would be on their side.

Then their conversation was interrupted when the floor below their feet broke down and they started to fall down.

...

**Author's note:**

Another cliff-hanger! Oh how I love them! XD Please excuse my bad habit :P Please leave review and comment my work :)


	8. Sara - Enemy or not?

Eight chapter! And a cliff-hanger again XP Please enjoy and review :D

...

"SANJI-KUN!" Nami shouted when she realised the floor was going to collapse.

"NAMI-SAN! GRAB MY HAND!" Sanji yelled and reached out his hand to grab the navigator. "Sky Walk!"

They barely escaped the collapsion and Sanji felt like a hero saving a beatiful lady,"Are you alright, Nami-san?" He asked politely.

"I am fine, I just sprained my ankle!" Nami said and wiped her forehead before she looked down. "You know, I am really happy I took you with me!"

For Sanji it was the biggest praise he could ever have but he had no time to think about it when he felt something hitting his left leg.

"SANJI-KUN!" Nami shouted again when she realised the chef couldn't keep his balance in the air with a damaged leg. The gentleman he was, however, he bit his teeth and landed on top of a steady floor to make sure Nami had a safe place to stand.

"Shit!" Sanji cursed and pulled the knife out of his leg. There was a flow of blood coming from the wound but the bleeding stopped pretty quickly after the pressure was gone.

_This is a top-class kitchen knife! Who would waste using such a beauty against his enemies?!_ Sanji raged by himself.

...

Luffy was running around the mansion with no idea of Dess' whereabouts. Well, he found the kitchen and stopped to eat for a while but then he continued his journey and soon he needed to look for a toilet. He was such a simpleton he didn't realise using haki would have been much more faster than just running around like a headless chicken.

"DESS! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Luffy shouted and his voice echoed trough the whole building.

Meanwhile in the lower floors, Chopper and Zoro's search for explosives was interrupted when they heard their captain's shout. "That idiot!" Zoro cursed,"He should be looking for the enemy silently, not inform everyone about his whereabouts!"

"I think that shout was not a problem!" Chopper realised,"Echo makes it really difficult to locate!"

Zoro and Chopper ran trough the hallways, checking if there were other explosives which could be used against them.

Then they heard silent steps coming from behind them and they saw a glimbse of red hair. "SARA!" Chopper shouted at the woman,"What are you doing here?!"

Zoro stared at the woman, not quite trusting the woman. "I was looking for Sanji-san, he is in danger!" Sara explained and Chopper gasped.

"That's horrible! You should warn him!" Chopper worried and shared glances with Zoro,"Last time we saw him, he rushed off with Nami towards the higher floors!"

"Okay! Thanks!" Sara said and was about to head towards the stairs when she stopped,"By the way, what are you guys doing?"

Zoro tried to signal Chopper to keep his mouth shut but the reindeer didn't notice it. " We are trying to locate if there are any other explosives in here! They could be dangerous!"

Sara blinked before she realised Chopper's ability. "Yes, I guess your sense of smell is pretty good!" she said and patted Chopper's head, smirking creepily, "That's no good, is it?"

...

"You are that Dennis-guy!" Usopp gasped when he realised who he was facing and smiled,"I guess you can't be so strong since you are just a mere messenger!"

Dennis smirked at the long-nosed man,"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that!" Dennis said before he hit the younger man straight to his nose.

"You bastard!" Usopp whined from the ground,"That's unfair! You broke my nose!"

"What's unfair? I thought pirates were unfair!" Dennis said and attacked again but this time Usopp had enough time to dodge and see how the fist went straight trough the wood on Sunny's deck.

"Usopp you bastard!" Franky shouted,"Don't let your enemy damage our ship!"

"Just focus on your own enemy!" Usopp adviced and took some distance between him and Dennis. It was going to be annoying if Dennis used short-range attacks and Usopp needed some more space to shoot his enemies.

...

Brook wandered around the big mansion. He hadn't found any treasures or anything worth money. Their navigator would be disappointed but it wasn't really his fault they had nothing of value.

Brook almost collided with Chopper and Zoro. Expecially Chopper looked pathetic, somehow as if he was disappointed with himself.

"Brook! You need to warn Ero-cook!" Zoro ordered the skeleton when he recognised him.

"What happened?" Brook asked.

"We have no time to talk right now! That woman is probably after him and she is not an ordinary woman!" Zoro explained.

"You mean she is a devil fruit user?" Brook inquired.

"Probably! Just go and tell him not to let that bitch touch him!" Zoro adviced,"Last time we saw him he was heading to upper floors!"

Brook nodded and rushed off to inform his nakama about the situation.

"I am sorry, Zoro...I wasn't much of a help, was I?" Chopper whined but Zoro only smiled at him gently.

"It's not your fault, it's that woman's fault!" Zoro reassured the small doctor and secretly hoped that Brook would find their chef before Sara.

"But how are we going to find those explosives now?!"Chopper wondered.

"We just have to trust our luck!" Zoro laughed but he was feeling actually pretty nervous.

...

Sanji and Nami walked forward the hallway. Sanji was limbing his left leg slightly but he was doing his best not to worry their navigator.

"Sanji-kun, let me have a look at that wound..." Nami asked but Sanji shoke his head.

"It's fine, Nami-san!" Sanji reassured the orange-haired woman,"It doesn't even hurt!"

"Sanji-san!" Brook shouted and flew towards the duo,"It seems like you are okay!"

"What do you mean?" Nami inquired. She got worried when she saw the face the skeleton was making.

"Sara is after you, apparently trying to kill you!" Brook explained and Sanji gasped.

"Why would she do something like that?!" Nami hissed angrily. "We have done nothing wrong and especially Sanji-kun has treated her like a princess!"

Sanji just stared at Brook,"Well, she is just a woman! Even if I can't hurt her, I can run away from her!"

"That's not going to be so easy!" Brook sighed,"She is a devil fruit user!"

"She is WHAT?!" Sanji and Nami gasped at the same time. They had never thought about the chance that the innocent girl could be a devil fruit user.

"That's right," they heard a feminine voice behind their backs and they turned quickly to notice that Sara was way too close to them. She could almost touch Sanji's shoulder. "Well, I just learned a while ago about devil fruits but now I know that I have eaten one of them!"

She grabbed Sanji's shoulder and used her powers quickly this time. She had been too slow with the reindeer and he had survived with only small side effects. Sanji couldn't push a lady away so he just stood there while Nami tried to get Sara away from Sanji and Brook was just looking at the scene because he could do nothing in his spiritual form.

Sanji gasped when he realised Sara's powers had slowly started to affect him before the world went black in front of his eyes.

...


	9. Haki to the rescue!

Ninth chapter! I am really excited about this story myself and I feel like I have just gotten started with the story! :) But don't worry, this won't be one of those endless fanfics :P

...

Nami saw how Sanji fell to the ground and thought that the blond was unconcious.

"SANJI-KUN!" Nami rushed next to the chef,"What did you do to him?! Why are you chasing him?!"

Sara looked a little confused for a while. "I was ordered to do this. Don't take it personally, it's just my job. He is still alive, I can't kill someone with my powers!" Sara reassured the navigator and seemed to think if she should attack her or not.

"Nami-san..." Sanji said, sounding really confused about the situation.

"Sanji-kun! Are you alright?!" Nami worried and looked at the man in front of her.

_What is this?! It's horrible! I know Nami-san is next to me and I can also feel Brook and Sara-chan's presences but..._

Then Sanji realised what was going on. He gasped slightly at the realisation but he couldn't hear what kind of a noise escaped his mouth. He couldn't see the looks on his friends' faces, he couldn't smell the dust in the air, taste the blood in his mouth or feel Nami holding his hand: he was senseless.

"Don't let her touch you!" Sanji adviced strictly.

"Sanji-kun...?" Nami asked, confused by the tone of Sanji's voice.

"She took my senses!" Sanji informed and Nami gasped.

"But that's..." Nami started but couldn't finish her sentence. She swallowed hard and thought about the situation. It didn't look like Sara would attack again, like she had already done what she was told to do. Still, there was a chance that she might change her mind.

"Brook! Let's get out of here! Can you return to your body?!" Nami ordered and Brook nodded.

"I will return shortly!" Brook promised and disappeared inside the wall. Sara just stared at Nami and Sanji and squinted her eyes.

Sara turned her head away from Nami but the words she said were clear:

"Escape"

...

Chopper was feeling pretty miserable. Sense of smell had been a big part of his life and now it was gone. It was somehow really weird for him: he had used to recognise his friends by smell and now he couldn't trust his ability anymore.

"Well, now Nami can use her perfumes as much as she likes," Chopper managed to chuckle slightly and Zoro smiled at the doctor, happy to notice that he hadn't really given up just because he lost one of his five senses.

...

Franky and Robin were trying to fight Pretty who was far from pretty: her form was monsterous and she was really dangerous enemy. If Franky wasn't a cyborg, he would already have a huge puncture wound in his shoulder. Their enemy's beak had suffered some damage instead of the hentai's shoulder.

Robin was hiding and helping Franky from the background. Flying enemy was a difficult opponent but Robin could use her powers to bring the enemy down by pulling her wings so that she couldn't fly. Their enemy was powerful but pretty stupid when she didn't realise why she was falling down everytime she passed the crow's nest.

Usopp had trouble keeping up with his enemy. Dennis was pretty fast and pretty strong, strong enough to break bones with single hit. Usopp's nose was in a need of cosmetic surgery.

It was hard to figh the guy like this so Usopp changed his tactics after seeing the caves in the cliff. He could use the same tactic he had used in Alabasta and Fishman island. Sometimes the old tactics just worked best, especially when your enemy was not aware of them.

...

Sanji was doing his best to detect any enemies close to them because it was all he could do. He was totally at Nami's mercy at the moment. He couldn't see, hear, feel, taste or smell. The only option he had was to trust his nakama at the moment and let them lead the way.

Then Sanji felt one annoying presence getting closer to them,_Why he has to see me like this?! Oh I am somehow happy I can't hear his teasing or see the face he is making!_

"Zoro! Chopper!" Nami shouted at the duo when she saw them,"Did you find any explosives or traps?"

The look on Chopper's face was so pathetic that Zoro had to hit him,"No, we didn't. That woman did something and Chopper lost his sense of smell..."

Nami looked at Chopper and sighed,"It's okay, Chopper, don't blame yourself! Even this idiot here got himself caught by that woman!" Nami said and pointed at Sanji who didn't react at all.

"Ero-cook got himself caught?! That's pathetic! I thought you would do better than that even if she is a woman!" Zoro tried to annoy the chef but was surprised to notice the blond didn't react like usual. Actually he didn't react at all. "What senses she took from him?"

"All five senses," Nami sighed deeply and Chopper blinked.

"That's really bad! I mean, how can we communicate?!" Chopper worried but Nami had no answer.

"Well, he can use haki to keep an eye for friends and foes and dodge attacks but that's all he can do. He is pretty useless at the moment!" Zoro said and got an annoyed look from Nami.

"I have the feeling Marimo is insulting me!" Sanji hissed but said nothing more.

"He can speak?" Zoro wondered.

"Of course he can!" Chopper said,"Even though he can't hear his own speech, speaking is so natural to him that it shouldn't be a problem! But there will be some other problems..."

"What?" Nami inquired.

"Well, he can't feel a thing so he can't feel if he is injured or if he is tired. So he might push himself too hard and when he gets his senses back, all the fatigue gets him at once..." Chopper sighed and hoped that Sanji realised it himself.

_This is pretty damn annoying because I know Marimo must have mocked me when he realised I got caught but I can't react at all! And I can't communicate with them because I can't hear what they are speaking!_

Then Sanji felt an attack coming from behind. Of course he felt it because he had to trust his haki all the time." EVERYONE GET DOWN!" He shouted and hoped that they would dodge the attack.

...

"He escaped?!" Captain Dess hissed,"From you? I am disappointed in you,Sara!"

"There was nothing I could do. I managed to take his senses but his friends helped him to escape,"Sara explained and hoped that her fianceé would believe her explanation. The simpleton he was, he believed the obvious lie.

"It's alright, I just need to go and finish him off by myself!" Captain Dess said and was about to leave the room when a fist hit him trough the door and he flew towards the wall. Sara looked at the scene in disbelief and turned towards the door to see Strawhat Luffy storming into the room. "YOU ARE NOT HURTING MY NAKAMA!"

"Sara! Do something!" Captain Dess shouted and apparently hoped that Sara would remove all the senses from Luffy but she didn't. She touched him, indeed, but Luffy didn't notice anything special expect that his eyesight got sharper and his hearing was better but he didn't know that there was a prize for superhuman senses. Well, as if he needed those superhuman senses in this battle.

"Don't worry", Sara whispered to Luffy's ear,"Your friends are alright and your chef will return back to normal in few days. Escape when you have the chance."

...

Usopp had managed to lure his enemy to the caves. Apparently his enemy had as bad sense of direction as Zoro and he headed even deeper to the caves when Usopp stepped out and prepared to shoot. Why was a person like him a messenger in the first place?

"Hissatsu Fire Bird Star!"

His fight was over. He got only a broken nose and few bruised ribs.

...

Robin and Franky were playing around with their enemy. Pretty was pretty stupid and simple person who didn't use any weird tactics, just straight-forward attack which were easy to predict. It was hard, however, to cause any damage to her when she was flying and her skin was strong enough to protect her from Franky's beams.

...


	10. Falling down

Tenth chapter already! Yahhoo! I have still lots to write, expecially the whole ZoSan stuff hasn't been here very much but I will work on it more in the future chapters! :) Besides, I don't like going straight to the "action" XP

...

Luffy was forcing Captain Dess to focus only on defending himself. When captain Dess had decided to invite Strawhats to his mansion, he didn't thought he had to fight a man worth 400 million. He had just thought that they would be lots of fun. He had trusted Sara a little bit too much also because it looked like she had betrayed him.

Sara hadn't thought leaving the mansion, however. She had betrayed Dess' trust indeed but she wasn't going to leave him. She had always trusted the man, always believed everything he said and let the man decide everything for her. If she would leave the man, she would be lost.

...

"EVERYONE, GET DOWN!" Sanji shouted and hoped that everyone, even the moss-head, managed to dodge the surprise attack. He dodged the attack himself but probably stumbled after that. He didn't know for sure because his balance was not normal and he couldn't feel whether he was upright or stumbled on the ground. All he could do was dodge the attacks using haki and feel presences of other people around him.

"It's good that he can't see this!" Zoro said when he realised the enemy had thrown kitchen knifes towards them. He guessed the chef would feel annoyed to realise how badly they were treated.

"Where is the enemy?!" Nami wondered when she couldn't see the one throwing the knives.

Sanji had attacked the enemy in the meantime and kicked him to the ground,"Don't you dare to hurt our beautiful navigator, you bastard!" he shouted at the enemy and landed on the ground, stumbling a little before falling down.

Chopper stared at Sanji in disbelief,"Haki must be pretty useful...I couldn't fight in his condition!"

"It seems like it..." Nami sighed and stared at Sanji who had difficulties in keeping his balance even when he was sitting on the ground.

"This is boring!" Zoro complained,"Isn't there someone worth fighting?!"

Then Zoro had barely time to pull his swords and cover himself from the attack,"Excuse me, but I was here too..." the enemy whined quietly and Zoro grinned when he sensed he had gotten himself an worthly opponent.

...

Usopp returned back to the ship to help Franky and Robin who couldn't really damage their enemy. It looked like her skin was strong enough to cover her from all the attacks and a flying opponent was hard to catch.

He stood next to Franky,"Need any help?"

"Actually that would be suupeer! We haven't managed to even graze this baby!" Franky admitted the situation they were in and Usopp analysed the situation for a while.

"Don't worry Franky, I think I have an idea!" Usopp said and smiled confidently,"Just follow my plan!"

...

"Where are you...~" Brook shouted at the hallway. He had forgot where he had abandoned his body and now he couldn't find his skeleton remains.

"Yohohoho! I guess Luffy-san would laugh and say that I resemble Zoro-san..."

...

Luffy punched captain Dess against the wall and pressed his windpipe slightly: he didn't want to suffociate his enemy but he also wanted to hear his answer to his guestion,"Why did you suddenly attack us?! We were friends! Parties organized by you were so much fun!"

Captain Dess chuckled slightly,"It's all that blondie's fault!"

Luffy blinked,"Blondie? Sanji is the only blond in our crew. Did he do something?"

"You ask me?! He flirted with my fianceé! He was trying to take her away!" Captain Dess explained and Luffy started to laugh.

"Oh, that?" Luffy managed to stagger in the middle of all the laughing,"He treats all the ladies like that!"

Captain Dess' jaw fell down and he didn't know what to say. Had he picked a stupid fight for no reason?

...

Sanji felt Sara getting closer to them. "Sara is coming,"he informed the others.

Sara moved slowly closer to Strawhats. "Don't worry, I want no harm for you!"

Nami lowered her Clima Tact but didn't put it away.

"Your captain is fighting with captain Dess and he is going to win. Captain Dess is not really strong, you know?" She chuckled slightly,"I betrayed him to help you guys escape."

"You were friendly to us, then you attacked our people and now you expect us to trust you?" Nami raised a brow.

"I know it's hard to believe but you are not bad people!" Sara explained,"He just got overly jealous when Sanji-san flirted with me and with his simple logic he wanted to have his revenge to everyone in the same crew."

"So it's his fault..." Nami said, glaring at Sanji.

_Wha-what was that? I felt Nami-san glaring at me...But they are not fighting?_

"Please, I beg of you! When your captain comes back, just leave this mansion behind!" Sara knelt in front of them,"I will take care of the rest!"

...

Zoro's fight made the swordman smirk. Apparently his opponent was the strongest one in the mansion, even stronger than Captain Dess. It was still not enough for the swordman who wanted the fight to make his blood boil with excitement.

Their fight ended up pretty quickly, however. Not because Zoro knocked his enemy down or the enemy knocked Zoro down. Luffy had punched captain Dess trough the wall and Zoro's opponent was pushed down by Captain Dess' back.

"LUFFY!" Zoro raged,"DON'T TAKE DOWN MY OPPONENTS!"

"Oh? Sorry about that, Zoro!" Luffy laughed as usual and looked how his opponent was trying to keep his hold of the collapsing floor. There was a deep fall down to the caves underneath and falling would mean certain death - slow or fast.

...

"Nico Robin!" Franky shouted while waving his hands."Try to get the enemy fall to this direction!"

Robin looked at the hentai and nodded."Roger that."

She gestured her hands and waited for a perfect moment to pull their opponents wings. When it came, she glutched even harder than usual and pulled the enemy down.

Usopp appeared from behind the mast and pressed his hand against their enemy's chest. It was not like he was attacking his enemy unprepared. "Impact Dial!"

The shock-wave, which the impact dial generated, was enough to injure their enemy badly but it didn't really cause much of a damage to the sniper who hadn't wasted those two years of separation just laying around in the grass and dreaming.

"We suupeer finished that baby!" Franky cheered and posed his usual hentai-pose.

...

Sara looked at Captain Dess seriously. She realised that the man was going to fall down and die if nobody helped him and it looked like nobody was making a move to save him.

She ran towards Captain Dess and took a hold of his hand but didn't try to pull him up. She was too weak, she was too fragile to even try such a trick.

"Sara, save me!" Captain Dess ordered but Sara just smiled at him.

"Dess-san", she started to speak in a low voice,"I always trusted your decisions and your way of life. I never even dreamed of something else! I was really happy in here!"

"Sara, please - -" Captain Dess begged but Sara continued her calm speech.

"I was really happy in here!" she repeated,"You took me away to show me this happiness in here! I am really grateful. Thank you!"

Then she let go of his hand, not even bothering to try and pull the man up. The floor started to grumble and Captain Dess along with Sara started to fall down.

...


	11. to get thrown back up

Chapter eleven! I hope you are not dissapointed when there hasn't been any ZoSan but you just have to wait! :) I want to give their relationship some time before yaoi ;) Thank you to all who have read my fanfic, thank you t all who are currently following it, thank you to all who have sent review and thank you for one favorite! :)

...

"SARA-SAN!" Nami shouted when she saw the woman starting to fall together with Captain Dess.

"SARA!" Chopper yelled but couldn't move from the spot when he saw Sara smiling.

"Really...this is enough...I am happy..."Sara thought when her life was flashing in front of her eyes. A tear made it's way to her eye, a dissapointment towards her life. She had never wanted to admit how she had wanted to live her life freely but she hadn't even dreamt of escaping.

...

"A LADY NEEDS ME!" Sanji shouted when his instinct took over him. He managed to catch Sara before she fell but Captain Dess managed to catch a hold of his leg too. Even though he couldn't feel the hold in his leg, he somehow knew that the situation was complicated. He couldn't know that there was a deep fall below him

"MARIMO!" Sanji shouted to the direction where he could sense Zoro's presence,"IF YOU DON'T CATCH HER I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU!"

He threw Sara as hard as he could towards the green-haired idiot. He had to trust the idiot at the moment because he could not possibly save her alone without his senses.

"YOU OWE ME ONE,CURLY-BROWS!" Zoro shouted back even though he knew the chef couldn't hear him.

Zoro pulled the woman up to safety and went back to the edge to see the scene below them: Sanji was smirking widely, not really realising the situation he was in when he started to fall down with their enemy and the whole building started to grumble.

"What the...?!" Zoro wondered when he realised the whole building was about to collapse.

"HE PROBABLY KICKED SOME IMPORTANT PILAR WHEN HE SAVED SARA-SAN!" Nami guessed and headed towards the exit."LET'S GET OUT OF HERE FIRST!"

"WHAT ABOUT ERO-COOK!?" Zoro hissed angrily, apparently worried about the blond.

"HE WILL MANAGE! HE IS NOT GOING TO DIE!" Nami shouted and hoped that her guess was right.

"STUPID ERO-COOK! STUPID ALL-THE-LADIES-MAN!" Zoro cursed while running.

"SANJI!" Chopper shouted and did his best to prevent himself from rushing to Sanji's aid.

...

Captain Dess stirred only a while after the collapsion. He had expected pain but he felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"So this was your parting gift, Sara?" He chuckled and coughed up blood. He laughed at the idea that his fiancé had decided to give him peaceful death without pain. He had been an ass towards her mostly.

He took a look around him. His vision was getting blurry but he could still recognise the familiar, annoying blond just few meters from him. His black suit jacked was soaked with blood but there was this ridicously gently smile on his face.

"What an idiot...he did that just to save one woman!" Captain Dess hissed,"Take care of my fianceé, will you?"

Then he closed his eyes and never opened them again.

...

Strawhats watched how the building grumbled down and soon it couldn't be described as a building anymore.

"Zoro..." Chopper sighed and fought back his tears.

"What?" The swordman asked in a neutral tone.

"There were no more explosives..." Chopper said with a trembling voice.

"But that kind of a collapsion could kill anyone even without bombs,"Robin stated when she arrived to the scene. "What has happened in here?"

"ROBIN!" Nami greeted the older woman with a hug. She couldn't help crying.

"Why did you come over here?" Zoro inquired seriously.

"I couldn't miss all the noises coming from here..." Robin said while looking around her,"I can see not everyone are here...Where are Cook-san and Luffy?"

Zoro hadn't even noticed their captain missing when he had focused on the chef."Where the hell did that idiot go?!"

...

Sara regained her conciousness and was surprised to notice she wasn't injured. She had expected to be crushed down underneath some huge pilar but she had been wrong.

"Sara, are you alright?" Strawhat Luffy asked. He had protected Sara and he had some minor wounds.

"Why did you protect me?!" Sara shouted at Luffy,"I don't deserve it!"

"Maybe you don't,"Luffy said without a moment of hesitation."But Sanji would kill me if I wouldn't take care of you!"

Then Sara remembered how Sanji had saved her by sacrificing himself.

"I am sorry..." Sara staggered,"If I wasn't here, your chef..." She was fighting back her tears.

"Sanji is alive,"Luffy said confidently."He won't die if there are ladies who would cry over his dead body."

Sara couldn't understand how the captain of Strawhat pirates was so sure that his friend was alive or how he was able to smile despite the situation. She would only cry and feel desperate that she could do nothing to help her friend at the moment.

"How are we gonna get out of here?" Sara asked carefully after a moment of silence.

"Well, even though I am idiot I know we shouldn't rush off without thinking first,"Luffy stated, sounding pretty clever at the moment.

...

"Do you think it's safe enough for us to go and look for those guys?" Zoro inquired from Nami who had returned from looking around and checking if the building would collapse even more.

"I didn't know you of all the people would care about safety..." Nami raised her brow,"I think it should be fine but we should be careful...we don't know what parts might collapse and end up killing our nakama..."

Everyone moved closer to the former pirate mansion. It was somehow impossible that someone would have survived this but nobody wanted to think about that.

"They are both alive..." Zoro said quietly but everyone heard it,"I can feel their presences..haki doesn't react to dead."

Everyone sighed in relief and allowed themselves to relax a little bit. Their chef was alive down there somewhere - he was alive.

...

Usopp and Franky stayed at the ship to guard their ship. They had heard all the noises coming from the mansion too but decided to stay when Nico Robin volunteered to check if everything was alright.

"Somehow I feel really nervous about this..."Usopp admitted and sighed deeply.

"Thinking it won't help a thing! Come on, help me fix this sail!" Franky said calmly and pointed at the sail that had dealt some damage in the fight the previous night.

...

Sanji slowly regained his conciousness. Well, he couldn't be too sure if he was concious or not because Sara had taken his senses.

He tried to use haki and he detected few of his nakama above of him, apparently looking for him. He could also feel the presence of Sara-chan.

_Apparently that idiot succeeded in catching her...Now I owe him one! _

The chef didn't dare to move, however. He had this weird feeling that he was trapped and he shouldn't move if he didn't want to die. It was really hard, however, when he thought that he shouldn't just lay down in somewhere and think of all the possibilities.

...


	12. Swordman surprising himself

12th chapter! And this time there will be slight ZoSan, just to warn you ;) Please leave a review and wait for further chapters! :) My beta is currently busy with her studies so I will publish chapters maybe a little slower ( with my speed it goes from two days to maybe four days? :D ) :D I want her to check my text without worries and so that she won't feel pressured because of her beta-work :) If it looks like she has no time at all to fix them I will check them myself but it's much slower because I have to use some grammar book and vocabulary :D But I promise you at least one chapter a week! :)

...

They found Luffy and Sara first. They were stuck beneath a huge pilar and Luffy was holding it up so that it wouldn't fall on top of the woman. But when Zoro arrived to the scene, he cut the pilar in tiny pieces.

"Sara-san!" Nami worried."Are you alright?"

Sara blinked because she had suspected they would be more worried about their captain." I am fine but your captain..."

"Ah, Luffy?" Nami almost laughed,"He is a gomu-person, he won't get hurt that easily!"

Sara had already forgotten about the Strawhat captain's weird ability. She sighed in relief and looked at Luffy and then she started to look around, as if looking for something.

"Is something wrong?" Robin asked carefully when she saw the look on Sara's face.

"Sanji-san is not here..." Sara said, sounding really worried.

"Don't worry about that idiot! He won't die!" Nami reassured the red-haired woman.

"But I took his senses...How can you treat me like I am your friend?!" Sara hissed and blushed when she realised what she had shouted out aloud.

"Well, our captain decided that you are our friend and we can't disagree with him," Robin explained and nodded.

"That's right!" Nami sighed."And don't worry about it, even without his senses he won't die!"

...

Zoro was searching for Sanji almost desperately. He didn't even notice when he lost his temper and started to run around in sort of a panic. He was walking fast and turning his head around wildly in a desperate attemt to find the blond. He didn't even think of the possibility that the building might collapse again when his only thought was to save the chef.

It had been really frusfrating to only look how the chef had fallen down with all the junk. He had smiled that ridiculous smile and sacrificed himself for one woman. She had acted all nice around him, then taken his senses and he was still ready to save the woman.

It annoyed Zoro somehow.

It really did.

"When I find you I'll kill you if you aren't already dead!" Zoro cursed out aloud and kicked his feet to a rock.

...

Thousand Sunny had suffered only some minor damage during their stay at the island. The sails had been pretty damaged but the sniper had helped their shipwright to fix them. Franky had had to admit that he had no ability in sewing so it was all up to the long-nosed man.

"Hey, Usopp! Is everything ready yet?!" Franky shouted at Usopp. The hentai had been preparing Cola below the deck so that everything would be ready when the rest of the crew returned. It was rather usual for them to leave quickly so they had learned to prepare themselves for emergencies.

"Wait a minute and I will be done!" Usopp yelled back at the cyborg. He was actually pretty proud of his work and how well he managed to fix the sails: you could see the seams only if you looked carefully and knew they were there. "I am done!"

They put the sails back to their places and soon the ship was back to normal.

...

"So it was a devil fruit..." Sara sighed deeply and looked up at the blue sky.

"Would you mind telling me how you got here?" Robin asked carefully, not wanting to scare the woman off. Everyone forgot the fact that their chef was probably lying injured somewhere inside the former pirate mansion.

"I don't mind!" Sara reassured the archeologist and smiled slightly. "I was around ten years old when they found me. They had looked a person with this ability and said that the person's destiny was to live in their mansion. They had heard of a girl who had deafened her own mother and her father had killed himself when he had gone nuts without his senses. People talked that I was cursed and I believed that too."

Everyone, even Luffy, listened to the story silently. Nobody felt like interrupting Sara.

"When they came and said that I have a place where I belong, I was so happy! I thought that even I had my purpose! So I left my deaf mother to join these guys and live in this mansion."

Sara blinked when she realised everyone had listened to her story and blushed slightly. "I... don't know what to do anymore...my future, my plans, everything was destroyed when Captain Dess met his death and the pirate mansion collapsed..."

"But you still have a dream to find," Nami noted and smiled to the red-haired woman.

Sara managed a small smile before she came up with an idea:"Hey, is it okay if I come with you guys for a while? My hometown is actually at the next island and I would love to return there and meet my mother! Then I will search for a dream on my own!" Sara asked, sounding pretty hopeful about her future.

"Do you even need to ask? Of course you can!" Luffy said with a smiling face and other members of the Strawhat crew sighed deeply: this was their captain, all right. "By the way, where did Zoro go?"

Everyone looked around and they couldn't detect the greenhaired man.

"Who would have thought that Zoro would rush off to look for Sanji first...?" Chopper sighed and everyone smiled slightly at the thought.

"We shouldn't be sitting around here either!" Nami said strictly."Let's go to look for that idiot!"

...

Zoro stumbled and almost fell on the ground. He was tired because he hadn't had time to take his usual nap but he could always take them later: for now he should only concentrate on looking for Sanji.

"ZORO!" He heard a shout from above: it was their idiotic captain."Where are you?!"

"I AM DOWN HERE! YOU LOOK FROM THE HIGHER FLOORS!" Zoro ordered others even though he wasn't the captain.

Just when he finished giving orders to others, he saw a glimbse of blond and black. He turned his head quickly and a wave of relief rushed trough him.

Sanji was laying on his back. He looked actually pretty unharmed from the distance but when the swordman got closer he could see the blood oozing trough his black suit. The chef's eyes were closed and he looked rather pale but Zoro could clearly hear the ragged breathing.

"You are alive..." Zoro staggered out aloud and sighed deeply. He bent over the blond and closed the distance between them by pressing his lips slightly against the blond's, not exactly sure why he did that. He could taste the familiar taste of blood on Sanji's lips. Not like he hadn't tasted blood earlier but somehow the taste was worth savouring.

It took a while before Zoro realised what he had done. Had he really kissed his rival? He hoped that his senses were still a mess because he didn't really want to talk about the events with the blond.

"HEY! I FOUND ERO-COOK!" Zoro informed others,"BRING OUR DOCTOR DOWN HERE!"

Somewhere from above he could hear Chopper fussing around and looking for the doctor who was closer than he thought.

...

**Author's note:**

Well? Was it good? As you can probably guess, there will be more ZoSan in the future chapters, little by little :P


	13. Greeting the pain

13th chapter! I really love how this story has turned out! :) I think of writing even more chapters than I originally planned, the story has developed in my head up to something like 30 chapters! XD So there will be still lots to read! :) As I informed you, there will be few more days between the chapters for a while than originally which means around three-four days :)

...

Chopper gave Sanji a quick check and realised the chef wasn't in immediate danger of loosing his life. He got few broken bones, big bruises and some minor cuts but they were not life threatening - not if they were treated. He wondered the amount of blood slightly but he guessed that the blood might be someone else's.

"We need to move him away from here. I have to bandage his wounds in the infirmary properly,"Chopper informed Zoro who had stayed with him when other's had headed back to the surface.

Zoro nodded and tried to lift Sanji carefully, not wanting to cause the man any extra pain. He couldn't lift him, however, when Sanji hissed in pain and started to tremble.

"Wait, Zoro!" Chopper ordered,"There is something stuck to his back!"

They lowered the chef back to the same position he had been before and Chopper tried to take a careful peek of what was holding the chef down. He gulped when he saw a reinforcing bar had stuck to his back and almost gone all the way trough his stomach. The other half of it was stuck on the ground,who know how deep it was buried.

"Zoro, you have to cut this so that we can move him! I can remove the metal at the infirmary! It's keeping the wound closed so that it won't bleed at the moment,"Chopper ordered and Zoro followed the doctor's orders by taking a hold of his most belowed sword, Wado Ichimonji, to cut the metal.

Zoro carried Sanji in his back back to the surface and all the way cross the desert to get him back to their ship to get treated. Everyone else returned back to the ship too because they had no reason to stay in the destroyed building in the middle of the desert.

...

At some point of the journey back to the ship, Sanji started to stir. If he could see, he would see green hair and brown sand but he didn't so he couldn't see what the other's imagined he would see.

"He is regaining his conciousness..." Zoro informed Chopper when he felt the man in his back tensing his muscles and relaxing them.

"It's hot..." Sanji complained even though he couldn't hear the other's reaction.

"Is he able to feel?" Chopper blinked and thought of giving the man a proper doze of painkillers in the middle of the desert.

"Usually the people who has fallen victim to my ability regains their senses from one day to month," Sara explained and sighed deeply."It's a relief he is starting to get them back so early."

"Well, whose fault was that?" Zoro hissed at the woman who felt quilty about the events.

"Hey Zoro!" Nami shouted and punched the man even though he was carrying a patient. "Don't be so cruel! It's no wonder if people don't like you if you are like this!"

"Don't mind Kenshi-san," Robin noted,"He is always like this."

_I can feel again! I almost thought that my senses would never return! Staying in that state could be dangerous for anyone's mind! You could become insane!_

Sanji felt someone tapping his back and he couldn't understand immediately that Chopper was writing letters to his back and trying to communicate with him.

"D-O-Y-O-U-F-E-E-L-A-L-L-R-I-G-H-T?" Chopper wrote the first message and Sanji had to trust his voice to speak out aloud.

"I am just happy to notice that my senses are returning...I feel pretty okay..." Sanji staggered. He wasn't too confident of how his voice sounded.

"Y-O-U-A-R-E-I-N-J-U-R-E-D. C-A-N-'T-Y-O-U-F-E-E-L-A-N-Y-P-A-I-N?" Chopper tapped to his back.

Sanji tried to sense pain but he couldn't."I feel absolutely nothing besides this heat...it's killing me!"

"What does it mean if he can't feel pain?" Nami wondered, directing her question to the small doctor.

"Well, his body might block the pain to protect him or his sense of feeling is somehow limited..." Chopper guessed.

"Actually it might be because of my powers..." Sara admitted when she realised it might have something to do with her ability."When the senses are getting back, they don't work normally for a while so it's not anything unusual..."

"How long does it take for his senses to get back to normal?" Chopper asked a medical guestion.

"I can't be too sure..." Sara sighed."Some people's senses are back to normal inside a week and for some people it could take even months...even though the senses are getting back it doesn't mean they are back to normal immediately..."

Chopper nodded and tried to inform Sanji about what Sara had told him. It was pretty slow to communicate like that but at the moment it was the only way they had.

...

Sanji tried to stay concious now when his senses were getting back and he didn't know how badly he was injured. He started to feel pain slowly too and soon every movement he made forced a hiss out of his mouth.

He couldn't have known who had carried him all the way back to the ship if it wasn't for Zoro's muscles which he could feel pressing against his stomach. The swordman had trained well during those two years and his muscles were even more visible than before.

_Wait Wait Wait! Am I almost praising his muscles? Hell no! _

Sanji felt the matress beneath him and relaxed to the soft feeling. Soon his muscles tensed again, however, when Chopper started to clean his wounds and put on stitches and bandages.

When Chopper finished treating Sanji, the chef was all sweaty and cursing under his breath. He didn't really know if it was a good thing that his senses were getting back after all. His whole body was aching and the bandages were itching his sensitive skin.

Chopper informed Sanji that he would give him some sedative and a small dose of painkillers so that he could get some rest. Sanji just nodded, not bothering to refuse the offer.

...

"Dinner is ready!" Nami shouted and everyone rushed in. Of course Luffy would be the first one to take a bite, the selfish and hungry bastard he was.

Everyone started to eat and finish their share of food before the gomu-idiot would steal it. But something weird was going on this time around: Luffy just sat there, chewing his food and then tears started to flood from his eyes.

"Luffy-san! What's wrong?!" Brook inquired in a worried tone.

Luffy tried to swallow down his tears and he gulped hard."MEAT IS NO GOOD!"'

"I AM NOT THAT BAD AT COOKING!" Nami shouted and kicked their captain.

"Ah!" Sara hissed and covered her mouth."It's probably my fault again!"

Nobody expect Robin realised what was wrong with their captain. She chuckled slightly at the thought and looked at their captain with pity."I think this is going to be our captain's hardest struggle this far!"

...

**Author's note:**

If some of you didn't understand the ending, I will explain it in the next chapter! :) Just giving you some space to think on your own! XD I thought that this chapter needed something fun when it was pretty "dark" chapter with Sanji injured :D


	14. Shh,keep quiet

14th chapter! Poor Luffy who doesn't like meat, nee? XP Please review,favorite and follow to support my work and please send me pm if you have some idea you would like me to write about! :D

Luffy: WHY DID YOU TAKE AWAY MY MEAT?!

Oneechan94: Well, I didn't excatly take your meat away...

Luffy: YOU LIAR! YOU ARE WORSE THAN USOPP!

Oneechan94: Just listen to me, please! I was going to explain - -

Luffy: SHUT UP! WHERE IS MY MEAT?! OR DID YOU POISON IT?!

Oneechan94: SHUT UP! I WOULD HIT YOU IF YOU WEREN'T MADE OF RUBBER!

Sanji: *crawls towards Luffy and uses his haki to kick Luffy*

Luffy: WHY DID YOU DO THAT, SANJI?! WEREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE INJURED?!

Sanji: But a lady needed me...

Oneechan94: Thank you Sanji-kun! You are my favourite of all the boys on board!

Sanji: I am so delighted to hear that, my lovely lady!

Oneechan94: ...especially when you are crawling naked under the sheets with Zoro...^^

Sanji: O.o

Luffy: ?

...

"It's probably my fault!" Sara gulped."I am terribly sorry, Luffy-san!"

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY MEAT?!" Luffy shouted angrily while Zoro held the idiot down so that he wouldn't attack the woman.

"When I touched you when you started to fight with Dess, you probably realised how some of your senses got stronger, right?" Sara asked and Luffy nodded,"Well, I can't touch someone without messing with their senses so I decided to erase your sense of taste and smell so that your other senses could get stronger! It's a normal reaction that when you loose some of your senses, the others get stronger!"

"That would explain why Sanji reacts so strongly to my treatment..." Chopper sighed."If his sense of feeling has gotten stronger, that means he feels the pain at least twice as much as normally..."

Everyone fell silent for a while before Sara spoke up."Is he...going to be alright?"

"Don't worry about it,Sara!" Chopper reassured the young woman."He won't blame you about this, trust me!"

"That's right!" Nami said and smiled heartly."He is all-the-ladies-man who loves all the ladies in this world! He wouldn't even dream of blaming a woman of his own mistakes!"

"That idiot won't even kick a woman!" Zoro hissed."It's his own trouble that he didn't kick you before you touched him!"

"ZORO!" Nami shouted and punched the swordman."Don't be so cruel!"

"Zoro-san is harsh!" Brook laughed next to Nami.

"So how is our cook-san?" Robin asked from Chopper seriously.

"He has got few broken bones and big bruises and one piercing wound in his back but otherwise he is fine,"Chopper informed everyone and they sighed deeply.

"What? That's nothing!" Zoro grinned.

"You are a masocist!" Chopper diagnosed.

"Hey Sara, can't you do something?!" Luffy almost begged. He wanted to eat his beloved meat, after all!

"Sorry, Luffy-san, but there is nothing I can do! We just have to wait for my powers to wear off," Sara apologiced.

"Then we can eat your share of food?!" Usopp asked hopefully.

"NO WAY!" Luffy shouted."I will spare it until I can taste again!"

"IT WILL GET SPOILED BEFORE YOUR SENSE OF TASTE COMES BACK,YOU IDIOT!" Nami shouted.

"AH?!" Luffy cried out, a little disappointed by the fact.

"It's only fair if we get your food for once, isn't it?" Franky suggested and everyone expect Luffy nodded in agreement.

"This is the worst...This is the worst..." Luffy whined while lying on the floor and complaining about his fate.

...

Sanji woke up a little bit before the sunset. Well, of course he couldn't know that because he couldn't see but he had a feeling he had been sleeping for many hours.

His whole body was aching. A lot more than before.

_Damn it. It hurts like hell! Not like I am going to whine about it like some sissy...It must have something to do with the fact that my other senses are gone...maybe I should ask about it from Sara-chan?_

He wiped sweat from his forehead and tried to focus on something else than the pain which was literally torturing him.

_Maybe I could try and think of Nami-san, Robin-swan and Sara-chan! Those beautiful faces and those curves! _

He managed to distract himself only for a while before he sensed someone was in the room.

"Chopper!" Sanji greeted the reindeer, wanting to inform their doctor that he knew he was there.

"F-I-N-E-?" Chopper tapped on the older man's back gently and Sanji shoke his head.

"I feel like hell," he admitted and grinned.

Chopper informed Sanji that he would give him some more painkillers to ease the pain and then he would check his wounds. He didn't want the chef's wounds to get inflected because it would yet double the amount of pain the blond was already feeling.

Zoro walked pass the infirmary door and stopped to stare at the blond trough the window. Chopper was focusing on checking his wounds and Sanji couldn't see him peeking. Their doctor had removed all of his bandages and the swordman could see the well-muscled back of Sanji. He didn't want to admit the chef looked gorgeous like that: calm, a little sweaty and a gentle smile on his face.

Zoro turned away to keep himself from blushing and smiling like a fool at the same time.

...

"YAHHOO!" Luffy shouted. He had turned his attention on Franky's cooler which was a great invention. The weather was really dry and hot which could trigger constant whining from their captain.

"This is great!" Nami said and pushed the gomu-idiot out of the way. Apparently he was trying to steal all of the cool air escaping the machine.

"You can SUUPEER count on me! I will build another one because I think we need it!" Franky said, pointing at the line of panting idiots. Usopp, Brook and Chopper had had no chance to cool themselves and they were feeling boiling hot.

"As espected of our crew's hentai!" Usopp cheered and knew the pervert felt praised.

"Aren't you affected by this heat, Sara?" Brook wondered.

"Not at all! I am used to the heat since I lived so long on that deserted island!" Sara explained. She wasn't even breaking sweat.

A loud kick coming from the wall between infirmary and kitchen interrupted their conversation. "JUST SHUT UP, WILL YOU?! YOU ARE BREAKING MY EARS!"

It took a while for them to understand the chef's hearing had returned but apparently it was pretty sensitive at the moment.

"Sanji!" Chopper rushed into the infirmary,shouting loudly before he saw the man blocking his ears."Sorry about that!" he whispered and Sanji raised a thumb.

"What's with this ruckus..." Sanji cursed and fough back the headache which had emerged at the same time with his hearing.

"They were testing Franky's cooler. Franky is going to prepare another one!" Chopper informed. "How are you feeling?"

"My head is going to burst if those guys can't keep it down!" Sanji complained and Chopper nodded.

"Sara told us that your senses might take while to return how they used to be so it's no surprise that your hearing is really sensitive at the moment," Chopper explained and Sanji nodded.

"By the way, what happened at the mansion?" Sanji inquired. He had missed most of it.

"Well, the mansion was destroyed and Captain Dess died. Sara came with us and she is going to leave our ship when we get to her home island,"Chopper informed the blond about the situation and Sanji nodded. Then some blood dripped on his shirt and Chopper looked up to see the man having a nosebleed.

"Three beautiful ladies...three beautiful ladies..."

...


	15. One, annoying woman

15th chapter! I wanted to end the previous chapter with some humour :D I think you can guess there will be more and more ZoSan by every chapter I write ;) My Dear Beta is ready to sacrifice herself to read these ZoSan chapter's too because she is not a big fan of yaoi :_D From the next week my betas workload will get easier and she will get to read my texts: I have already 26 chapters written but in need of her check so I will get to update this fanfic probably faster again :D

...

Sara knocked gently on the door of the infirmary and waited for a permission to enter.

"Come in!" Chopper adviced and Sara opened the door.

"Sara-chan!" Sanji swooned over the young girl.

"Glad to see you are better, Sanji-san!" Sara said and smiled - it was a shame the gentleman couldn't see her smile at the moment.

"I am glad to hear you survived trough that mess!" Sanji continued his swooning and Sara blushed.

"It was all thanks to you!" Sara praised the blond."I don't know if I had survived without you!"

Sanji felt really praised but he had to act normal. At least as normal as he could when he had a beautiful woman close to him. "I would do anything for you, my dear!"

Sara blushed bright red and she was genuinely happy that the chef could not see her at the moment. She was feeling really embarrased, being so close to such a handsome, strong gentleman. She felt really loved just by sitting there and having the priviledge of looking the blond. "I...made you some soup if you would like..." Sara staggered and offered the bowl so that the chef could feel it in his hands. "I asked for your doctor's instructions of what should I make for you..."

"Thank you, Sara-chan! I will eat anything you give to me!" Sanji said and really hoped that he could taste the food flavoured with feminine love.

...

Zoro couldn't miss how Sara took every possible chance to spend some time with the chef. She was really flustered everytime they talked about Sanji and she acted all weird when she had talked with him. She literally danced behind the door.

The swordman didn't want to pay attention to Sara's behaviour as much as he was but he could do nothing about it. It was bothering him and the fact it bothered him made him annoyed.

He didn't know such small things could matter.

...

"LUFFY!" Nami shouted while kicking the idiot out of the kitchen. "GET OUT OF THE WAY, I NEED TO PREPARE FOOD!"

"But Nami ~ " their captain whined." I am hungry!"

"What's the point in getting hungry if you can't taste?!" Nami preached.

"Even if I can't taste doesn't mean I can't get hungry!" Luffy explained and for once the idiot was right. His stomach was grumbling and he needed something to eat before he would go nuts.

"But you ate just an hour ago!" Nami said in a strict tone. " How is Sanji-kun able to keep up with your appetite?!"

"Need any help?" Robin asked when she heard the ruckus coming from the kitchen.

"Robin! Save me from this idiot!" Nami almost begged.

"Should we ask our doctor for anesthetic?" Robin suggested and Luffy felt a chill run trough his spine.

"Not that stuff!" Luffy begged on his knees."It will make me feel all floppy!"

"Then will you behave, captain-san?" Robin inquired with an evil smile on her beautiful face. Luffy gulped deeply before nodding and grawling away.

"One problem solved but there is still dinner to prepare!" Nami cursed and crossed her arms under her chest. "How can I manage?"

"Well, my offer still stands if you are interested," Robin offered and Nami smiled at her.

"Thank you, Robin! I don't know what would I do without you in this crew!" Nami praised the archeologist who smiled gently.

...

Sanji heard the infirmary door open but he couldn't see who had entered the room. It felt pretty futile to use haki on their ship so he just sat there and waited for some sort of voice signal.

"Where the hell did the bathroom go?" He heard a very familiar curse of one lost-marimo.

"You lost again, Marimo?" Sanji teased the green-haired man and heard a small grunt escaping his rivals mouth.

"I am not lost, Curly-brows. I was just looking for bathroom,"Zoro tried to explain himself but it wasn't much of a use.

"So you were lost,"Sanji chuckled and could imagine how annoyed the swordman was.

"I wasn't!" Zoro shouted angrily but took few deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Need instructions?" Sanji asked almost nicely.

"Yes, please ~" Zoro said in a voice which caused shivers to Sanji. He didn't know the swordman could sound so...seductive.

"Can you even follow my instructions?" Sanji suspected.

"I am not as stupid as you might think!" Zoro hissed."At least I am not swooning after every woman I see..."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Sanji argued and tensed his body. He felt like fighting.

"You begging for a fight again, Ero-cook?!" Zoro said, rising his voice a little.

"That's just what I was thinking about!" Sanji threatened but made no move to stand up when the swordman just stood still.

Zoro sighed deeply and looked at Sanji." I am not going to fight you, not when you are injured. It isn't a fair battle."

Sanji blinked slightly but he was still feeling like fighting so he stood up to kick the idiot but ended up falling back to the bed, clutching his sides. To his surprise, Zoro had grabbed him and prevented him from falling too hard.

"I said I am not going to fight you," Zoro repeated and Sanji chuckled slightly.

"I am not as fragile as some woman, you idiot!" Sanji said and tried to push Zoro's hand away but the swordman's hold held. "Let me go."

Zoro almost chuckled at how the blond sounded. "I won't. "

An annoyed hiss escaped Sanji's mouth."Why?"

Zoro gulped at the sudden guestion. "I...don't know..." He said and fell silent. He didn't even know why he had bothered to catch the blond from falling. "It's that woman..." Zoro said and blushed. He was somehow really happy that the blond was blind at the moment.

"Ah?" Sanji voiced out before he realised the idiot was talking about Sara. "What about her?"

"I...don't know..." Zoro staggered. "Something about that woman makes me feel nervous..."

Sanji was surprised to see Zoro like this: he had admitted that he felt nervous about something to him of all the people on board! "She is just a woman. If she causes any trouble we can take care of it."

"Just a woman? We? You can't lay a finger on women so we can count you out!" Zoro noted and Sanji blushed.

"Well, even if she is 'just a woman' I doubt she is going to do something against us- - " Sanji guessed but was interrupted by the very famous pirate hunter.

"- - That's not what I mean!" Zoro hissed and stared directly at Sanji even though the blond couldn't see him."That's not what I mean..."

The whole situation was pretty confusing so after a moment of silence Zoro decided to get out of the infirmary and return to his training. It annoyed him how much Sara and Sanji affected his thoughts nowadays!

_What the hell was that, Marimo_?! Sanji cursed by himself but said nothing out aloud.

...


	16. Torture with a pirate song!

16th chapter! I know I am building their relationship slowly but I don't want them to "jump between the sheets" just out of the blue. :D But please review and enjoy! I am not sure if my writing will end when I reach the 20th chapter :_D ( actually I am pretty sure there will be around 40 chapters :_D ) My beta suggested of giving spoilers to you in the reviews since she has read all the chapters from 1 to 26 and knows pretty much the whole plot but I forbade her from doing so :D And the good news are that my beta is back to work so I will release chapters more often! :)

...

Zoro couldn't understand how his concentration was disturbed this badly. Usually, the calm swordman he was, he could control his thoughts especially while training. Now he couldn't even count to ten without his thoughts wandering off to somewhere where they didn't belong - that stupid woman and especially that stupid blond who smiled like an idiot every time a woman was nearby.

He couldn't train without loosing his counting so he tried to take a nap. But when he fell asleep, all he could see was the smirking face of Curly-brows.

Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong.

...

The next day Sanji's hearing was even more sensitive than before. Sara said it could mean that some of his yet missing senses might be returning when one sense got suddenly stronger. Sanji didn't care as long as someone would bring him some properly working earplugs.

Sara didn't want to bother the chef and cause him more headache than he already had so she let him be alone. Even though she wanted to spend as much time as possible with the chef, she knew it was her fault and she was responsible of the blond's struggle.

"Robin-san!" Sara greeted the older woman cheerfully. "Is there anything I could do?"

Robin thought about it for a second. "Please, you do not need to worry about 'doing something' on this ship."

"But...I can't just be a burden to everyone..." Sara sighed.

Robin just chuckled. "Did you see our captain on your way here?" Robin asked and Sara nodded slightly. "Can you say he is of any use when he rolls around on Sunny's grass or plays tag with doctor-san and longnose-kun? As I said, you should not worry too much!"

"I will try!" Sara said and smiled gently. "By the way, do you have any books?"

"We have lots of books. Do you have something specific on your mind?"

"Well...I thought about studying more about the devil fruits and about the New World. I know almost nothing about the world outside that island!" Sara admitted her genuine interest and Robin smiled a little, mysteriously...

"I can show you where our books are, please feel free to read to your heart content,"Robin advised and Sara smiled.

...

"What's on the menu today?!" Usopp inquired.

"Yeah, what's on the menu?!" Chopper said, trying to imitate the sniper as well as possible.

"Don't speak so loud!" Nami whispered." Otherwise Luffy will hear us!" Both males blocked their mouths with their hands - they had just managed to get Luffy forget about the food for a while and even the slightlest hint referring to food might be the end of their peace and quiet.

"Luffy-san!" Brook shouted at the deck."Would you like a pirate song?" He knew Nami and Robin were doing their best to prepare the food but they needed some more time and Brook had just the means to keep their captain away from the kitchen.

"Yahhoo! Play us a pirate song!" Luffy cheered and soon Chopper and Usopp joined his cheers.

"Pirate song!"

"YOU HAVE TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!" Sanji shouted angrily. All the noises had woken him up and he was standing above the deck, glaring at the idiots who made so much noise.

"ARG! SANJI IS ANGRY!" Luffy shouted in horror and everyone rushed to some random directions to save themselves from the fearsome kick. Even the small doctor had no time to realise his patient was out of bed without doctor's permission.

...

Zoro got lost on their ship as usual. Nobody knew what he had been looking for and Zoro didn't bother to answer. Somehow he managed to get to the library where Sara was reading books.

"Ah, Zoro-san!" Sara greeted the swordman with a wide smile on her face."What are you doing here?"

"I got lost,"Zoro admitted. The fact he didn't like the woman meant that he wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible and it was no use to hide the fact he had a poor sense of direction.

"On your own ship?" Sara asked and chuckled slightly." This is one weird pirate crew..."

"This pirate ship is weird indeed. You don't fit here. You are too normal," Zoro stated coldly and Sara's jaw dropped.

"Excuse me? What have I done to make you hate me?" Sara inquired. She had noticed the cold looks the swordman had given to her but she never realised how much he actually hated her.

"Just stay out of our crew. Your destination is on the next island," Zoro said strictly and was about to leave when Sara stopped him.

"It's about him, isn't it?" Sara asked and sounded really depressed.

"Who are you talking about?" Zoro inquired even though he had an idea of whom the woman was talking about.

"About Sanji-san. You are jealous aren't you?" Sara asked. It took a while for the slow swordman to realise what she had asked.

"Me? Jealous? Why would I? He is one annoying bastard who does nothing but trigger my anger!" Zoro said and looked at anything else but the red-haired woman.

"Don't play stupid with me, okay?" Sara asked nicely."I might know nothing about the New World or devil fruits but you can't fool me when it comes to feelings."

"Tsk. Whatever. Feel free to charm that all-the-ladies-man and take him with you. We don't need him here," Zoro hissed and opened the door to leave but Sara interrupted him yet again with a strange question.

"You are jealous that he loves me instead of you, aren't you?" Sara said with a smirk on her face telling that she was sure of her victory.

Zoro took a threatening step towards the woman and stopped. "He loves all the ladies in the same way. He treats you the same way he treats all the ladies he has met so far. You are no exception. You are just a flirt."

Sara stared at the green-haired man, stunned by his words." How do you know about how he - - " she apparently tried to defend herself but Zoro interrupted her this time around.

"I don't care what kind of a love story he has been telling you but you will see. I have seen him flirting with women way longer than you have. You have no victory over him."

Sara seemed somehow hurt by his words and she pressed her head down. "Then...you feel absolutely nothing when he flirts with all the beautiful women on this planet?" She sounded almost desperate.

"No. I don't even care," Zoro said and finally stepped out of the library and left the stunned woman behind.

...

"This is all your fault!" Chopper preached at Sanji."If you hadn't rushed off the infirmary like that you wouldn't need to suffer like this now!"

Sanji clenched his teeth and let the doctor finish re-bandaging his wounds. The big puncture wound in his back had opened after his fit of anger and his headache had only gotten worse. He had really doubted if getting his hearing back was a good thing or not when your nakama were so loud all the time.

"Shit..." Sanji cursed out aloud."Could you give me some more painkillers?"

"Sure," Chopper said and realised how bad the pain was if the chef was voluntarily asking for painkillers.

There was a silent knock on the door and Usopp stepped in. "You should go and eat as long as Nami can protect your share..." he advised and the small doctor nodded.

"Then would you watch after him for a while? I am going to give him more painkillers and sedatives and you should keep an eye for any side-effects he might have before he falls asleep,"Chopper advised the sniper because he knew he wouldn't refuse.

Chopper rushed towards the kitchen, hoping that his food was still there. Usopp stayed there and watched how their chef slowly drifted towards the soft slumber of sleep. He stared at the bloodied bandages on the floor and sighed deeply - he couldn't even tell how much he hated to see his nakama like this.

...

BETA: "Spoilers for sale! Ten bucks and the next chapter is yours... ;)"

Oneechan94: But all the chapters are in my computer and covered with password ;) So please, don't buy it :D She can't have them :P


	17. Used to weirdos?

17th chapter! :D It's really relaxing to get your ideas out of your head like this so that the story in your head will be finished :) Please enjoy and review! :D I have noticed I have difficulties in writing "swordman" because almost every time I write it "sworman" which sounds almost like sworm-man :_D Zoro is no sworm! :D

...

"Hey Nami!" Franky shouted. "When are we going to arrive to the next island?"

"I can't say for sure..." Nami sighed. "With the weather of the New World it might take from few days to many weeks!"

"That's bad...We are running out of emergency Cola like this!" Franky almost cursed.

"How much Cola is left?" Nami inquired the details.

"Approximately there is Cola enough for one Coup De Burst!" Franky informed the navigator who nodded slightly.

"Then we have to manage without it as long as possible!" Nami ordered and Franky did his usual hentai-pose.

The ship swayed hard and Nami got to grab the steering wheel to keep her balance.

"LUFFY!" Usopp shouted in panic."Let it go! It will pull our ship!"

"But it's big! Nami ordered us to catch some fish so that we have something to eat! No way I am letting it go!" Their stubborn captain stated and Zoro shoke his head while pulling one of his swords out of its shield.

"Let me handle that fish, captain,"Zoro sighed and stepped forward to give the fish a finishing blow.

"Yahhoo! It's show-time! Zoro versus Mr Fish!" Luffy cheered, which greatly annoyed the swordman.

"DON'T MAKE THIS SOME STUPID SHOW, YOU IDIOT!" Zoro shouted angrily." AND YOU GUYS,WHY ARE YOU EATING POPCORN OVER THERE?! IS THIS SOME KIND OF A CINEMA?!"

Chopper, Brook and Usopp blinked. "Is he talking about us?"

"Why didn't you tell me you had popcorn?! That's unfair!" Luffy whined and tried to grab the bowl full of popcorns.

"You would only eat them all!" Usopp explained and dodged Luffy's 'gomu-gomu no popcorn thief' movement.

"That's right, Luffy-san!" Brook joined the choir. "You shouldn't steal from your elders!"

"WHAT'S WITH THE RUCKUS OVER HERE AGAIN?!" Sanji rushed out of the infirmary and re-opened his wound again. He had been angry when he had stood up to kick the shit out of those idiots but then his anger calmed down when he realised he saw the scene in front of him. "CHOPPER! I can see!" Sanji cheered and jumped to the air, regretting it the moment he fell back down and the very familiar pain ran through his body.

"Idiot," Zoro hissed.

"Ah? What was that, you baka-marimo?" Sanji started his usual 'begging-for-a-fight'-speak when he was interrupted by a thight hug from behind.

"I am so happy for you,Sanji-san!" Sara cheered, not really remembering that the chef was injured and she was pressing his wounds. "It will be only a matter of time before your taste and smell returns!"

"Ah~ My beautiful Sara-chan is even more gorgeus than the last time I saw her ~" Sanji swooned as usual.

"Should't you be resting?" Sara worried. "Come on, let me take you back to the infirmary."

"With you I would go anywhere, my dear!" Sanji vowed and walked away with Sara.

Everyone except Zoro missed how Sara sticked her tongue out and made faces at the swordman behind the blond's back.

...

Every member of the Strawhat crew noticed how their swordman was neglecting his daily training and merely walking around, deep in thought. It was the side of the former pirate hunter which they got to see in pretty rare occassions.

"Something bothering you, Zoro-san?" Brook suddenly asked, being the first one to approach the swordman.

Zoro just sighed and turned his head away. "Nothing."

"But there must be a reason why you are wandering around like a ghost," Brook explained his visions and Zoro grinned a little.

"A living skeleton is asking me that?" Zoro noted and Brook's jaw almost fell.

"You are probably right..." Brook admitted. "You don't seem pretty fond of Sara-san?"

Zoro blinked at the sudden guestion."I don't seem pretty fond of her?! I don't like her at all!" Zoro hissed and crossed his arms.

"Why is that?" Brook inquired even though he didn't wait for a proper answer - it was their swordman he was talking to after all.

"I...am not really sure about it myself..." Zoro admitted only half of the truth." Maybe I have lived with weirdos for such a long time that I can't possibly stand a normal human being?" He suggested but he wasn't really serious.

"Are you trying to imply that our crew is full of weirdos?" Brook asked. As if he hadn't noticed all the weirdos on board.

"Yes. All of us," Zoro added.

"Even me?" Brook asked in a shocked tone.

"Even you, yes," Zoro answered the shocked guestion.

For a while it seemed like Brook felt insulted but then he started to laugh. "Yohohoho! Zoro-san is harsh as usual!"

"Do you like that woman then?" Zoro said. He refused to use Sara's name, in order to express how much he hated her.

"What? No way! She is way too young for me!" Brook answered and laughed."And she refused to show me her panties..."

"Really? Doesn't that happen with every woman you meet?" Zoro grinned widely.

"Zoro-san, you surely are a little bit too harsh..." Brook sighed with depressed tone.

...

"Robin! Here is one coffee coming for you in the elevator!" Usopp informed their archeologist who had been studying in the aquarium room.

"Thank you, Longnose-kun!" Robin shouted from below and took her coffee out of the small elevator. She had her suspicions of how the sniper was acting all gentleman with the ladies on board at the moment: either Sanji had threatened him by breaking his overly long nose or not giving him any food for a week so that his ladies wouldn't be disappointed when he was playing the nice patient.

...

Strawhats were eating in the kitchen as usual. Luffy was trying to steal from everyone, even from ladies,and putting on an innocent act. Everyone else's meal was somehow the same as usual: protecting their shares of food from their captain's developing tricks.

"Somebody should take Sanji-kun's share of food to him!" Nami presented her request.

Sara immediately stood up. "I can take it!"

But likelywise did Zoro. "I can take it for you."

Everyone looked at the scene in front of them in disbelief: was Zoro really having a verbal fight against a woman only to take some food to Sanji?

"You don't need to!" Sara said and tried to reassure the swordman. It had no effect at all.

"I will take it. This weight it not for woman to carry," Zoro explained and grabbed the food before Sara could even react.

"It's no trouble at all! I am used to heavy weights!" Sara tried to defend herself but it was no use.

"I will take it and that's final," Zoro said strictly and when he realised the woman wasn't going to give up so easily, he pulled out his trumph card. "Besides, Sanji wouldn't be too delicted to realise a woman was carrying something like this for him."

Sara tensed and admitted her defeat by sitting back down. She tried to take a bite of her food which no longer existed.

"LUFFY!" Nami kicked the idiot."Can't you try to be a little more polite to our guest?!"

"It's alright! I don't feel like eating anyways!" Sara reassured the navigator but received a worried look from the doctor. He was probably thinking of some sort of diagnosis.

Sara tensed a little at the word "guest" but she knew the navigator was right: she had only stayed on the ship to reach the next island and nothing more. Why was she suddenly feeling so hurt about it?

...

**Author's note:**

I somehow like the idea of how Zoro and Sara would "fight over Sanji" and I think it works? :P So a pissed Zoro will take some food to Sanji...What, indeed, WHAT could possibly happen? :P Well, if Zoro can find the infirmary... I wonder how he will find "this" and "that" when he has got so poor sense of direction :_D

And I have decided that I won't stop writing unless I am happy with the story! :D So I won't give myself the "max-chapters"-limit :P I want to write more than one hot scene! :_D And lots of flirting and stuff :D And also something about how the crew will react etc... :D


	18. Miracle of the New World

18th chapter! Yay! :D Nothing more to say this time around, I guess? Please enjoy! :)

...

"You? Bringing me food?" Sanji asked with stunned tone.

"Yeah?" Zoro voiced out.

Sanji seemed to think about it for a while. He stared at the food and then he gazed at the swordman. "Is it poisoned?"

"Of course it isn't!" Zoro hissed and shoved the bowl to the blond's hands. "I wouldn't do something as low as that!"

Sanji blinked but took a spoonfull of soup. "This isn't half bad."

"Of course it isn't when it's made by your lovely ladies,idiot," Zoro hissed.

Sanji totally skipped the fact Zoro had called him 'idiot'. "ROBIN-SWAN AND NAMI-SAN MADE THIS?! OH I AM THE HAPPIEST GUY ON EARTH!" Then he blocked his own ears because his shout made his ears ring.

"Idiot. That's what you get," Zoro almost chuckled.

"Just shut your mouth, will you?" Sanji whispered an almost-beg which surprised Zoro.

"Should I get Chopper?" Zoro asked, genuinely worried for a change.

"He doesn't need to be bothered with my monsterous headache. Besides, he won't give me more painkillers," Sanji noted and rubbed his temples.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" Zoro asked, trying to annoy the chef a little bit: he knew that if the chef was angry, he would forget about the pain for a while at least.

"That coming from Mr Stubborness himself?" Sanji returned the half-tease and chuckled slightly.

Zoro was about to leave the infirmary when he suddenly remembered the face of that woman. He didn't want to return there to see her face and try to keep calm in her company. "Do you mind if I stay a little bit longer?" Zoro asked politely which caused Sanji's jaw to drop.

"You want to stay here?! The world might end!" Sanji almost laughed and put the empty soup bowl on the table. "You really hate her so much?"

Zoro couldn't understand why it was so obvious to everyone. How did they know that he hated the woman? "Yeah. I can't stand her."

"Just because you have this 'feeling about her'?" Sanji asked seriously.

"It's not that..." Zoro started but didn't know how to go on.

"Is she your first crush, perhaps?" Sanji suggested with a grin.

"NO WAY!" Zoro shouted but regretted it the moment the chef blocked his ears again. "It's not that..."

"But it's actually pretty common that you feel annoyed in the presence of someone you fancy..." Sanji explained and considered smoking.

"IT'S NOT THAT, I ALREADY TOLD YOU!" Zoro shouted and regretted it again. "It's not that..."

...

Other members of the Strawhat crew had fallen deeper in their seats as soon as Zoro had excused himself from the kitchen.

"World is going beserk, isnt' it?" Robin chuckled.

"This is way beyond our understanding!" Usopp sighed and everyone nodded.

"What's so weird about that?" Sara asked. She was an outsider so she had no idea of how Zoro and Sanji usually were.

"You haven't noticed? Those two are each other's biggest rivals!" Nami hissed and crossed her arms. Even Luffy had forgotten how to eat.

"Really? I highly doubt that..." Sara wondered. She had seen a totally different side of both of them than the others.

"But their fights are lots of fun!" Luffy laughed and got punched by Nami.

"THEY HAVE ALMOST DESTROYED OUR SHIP, YOU IDIOT!" Nami shouted, worrying over their ship.

"That's right! I have used more time fixing the ship after their fight than I used while building the ship!" Franky counted quickly.

"You haven't noticed?" Sara blinked.

"Noticed what?" Brook inquired before anyone else could interrupt.

Sara had planned to reveal her visions but then she decided to stay quiet. "Just forget it..."

Everyone blinked but didn't want to force the woman to reveal something she wanted to hide.

...

"Then what is it?" Sanji inquired when he saw the serious face of the certain swordman.

"It's...not that simple..." Zoro almost whispered.

"Why you hate her so much?" Sanji asked a sensitive guestion and he knew it.

"I don't know," Zoro answered, this time calmly. "She is just..."

"...just...?" Sanji tried to cheer the man to continue his explanation.

"JUST FORGET IT!" Zoro shouted again and turned towards the door when Sanji grabbed his arm.

"I don't want you to attack her, is that clear?" Sanji said in a threatening tone and it was enough to trigger Zoro's anger yet again. But this time he didn't shout, he didn't punch the idiot, he didn't start a fight: he pressed his lips firmly against the blonds and pressed him against the wall.

Sanji gasped when he felt the lips touching his own but he didn't or couldn't pull away from the somehow familiar feeling. _Oh yeah, I think I can remember someone kissing me...was it Zoro? _ Well, he didn't even mind. The whole situation was somehow absurd but at the same time it made him feel extremely happy. There were no butterflies in his stomach or their surroundings didn't seem all pink: it was just pure excitement and bliss.

Zoro pulled away and their eyes met. Sanji was blushing slightly and Zoro found it somehow cute ( not like he was going to admit it, though ).

"Well...that explains some things..." Sanji chuckled slightly and realised the reason behind Zoro's actions: Zoro, of all the people, was jealous over something.

"You are not...feeling disgusted about me?" Zoro asked, sounding somehow sad.

"Disgusted? Why would I?" Sanji answered with another guestion.

"It's jus that..." Zoro paused for a while, trying to think how to explain his thoughts with words. "You are all-the-ladies-man and yet you are kissed by someone like me..."

"Someone like you? What's so special about you?" Sanji inquired with a smirk. The idea of them talking calmly was as weird as the though of them kissing so why wouldn't they talk now?

"Well..." Zoro hesitated for a while. "If you haven't realised, I am a man." There was a small bit of tease in his voice and the usual joking had returned.

"It...doesn't matter I guess?" Sanji staggered."I mean...I could never even dream of kissing a girl since it would end into a ridiculous nosebleed or something like that...I have trouble acting normally around women..."

"Oh really?" Zoro teased and Sanji blushed.

There was a small silence before Sanji realised what the swordman was probably waiting from him. "I am not going to push you away, okay? I might be a little bit confused about this for a while but don't mind it."

Zoro stared at the blond and gulped. A huge wave of relief passed trough him when he realised the other man was not going to despise him because of what he did. He didn't even know why he had done it but he realised he was really happy that he did what he did.

Zoro pressed his head against Sanji's chest and sighed deeply. "Thank you, Ero-cook."

"You are welcome, baka-Marimo."

...

Robin chuckled by herself in the kitchen corner. Everyone else had focused on finishing their meal but Robin had took her time and spied on the two male. The scene she had seen was somehow really absurd but at the same time she found herself thinking:

"This is the New World. We have seen legendary Kraken and Mermaid princess so those guys falling for each other wouldn't be much of a miracle, would it?"

...

**Author's note:**

Aww! Somehow I love this chapter! I think I am not too good at writing these sort of sweet moments but I am trying my best! :D


	19. Hidden talent

19th chapter! I loved the ending of the previous chapter! So now there has been a kiss! And it will slowly develop into something bettter ;) There was few days delay in the releasal of this chapter because I visited my relative and they didn't have internet which could have been used on my laptop :D

Sanji: Robin-swan, did you really spy on us?

Robin:*chuckles* maybe I did, maybe I didn't?

Zoro: Just answer the guestion, woman!

Sanji: DON'T SPEAK TO ROBIN-SWAN LIKE THAT, YOU MARIMO!

Zoro: Whatever. *turns his attention to Robin* you are a pervert, aren't you?

Robin: There is only one hentai in this crew and that's not me.

Franky: Are you talking about me? *does his super hentai-pose*

Sanji: *sighs deeply* Unfortunately yes.

Robin: *walks away*

Zoro: Hey Robin! You didn't answer the guestion!

Robin: *turns her head towards the swordman, smiles slightly and leaves the room*

Sanji: Robin-swan is so mysterious! So charming ~

Zoro: Idiot...

Sanji: Ah? What was that!?

Zoro: *murmures* nothing...

...

Sanji hadn't even noticed when his puncture wound had started to bleed again. It was probably when the green-haired idiot had pushed him against the wall to give him a fierce kiss but he couldn't be too sure about that. Chopper was preaching at him again, trying to remind the man to be more careful.

"What did you do this time to re-open the wound?" Chopper asked innocently and Sanji blushed.

_Oh if you only knew..._

"It was that idiot's fault..." Sanji finally admitted, skipping the fact they had kissed.

"Zoro's? I will punch him when I see him because of this, trust me!" Chopper vowed and Sanji gave his permission to punch the man for him. He grinned slightly at the idea of confused swordman shouting something like "what the hell was that for!?"

The doctor left the infirmary to look for the poor swordman and Sanji had some time to think of the events which occured earlier that day.

_Well, that kiss explained a lot...Now I can understand why he doesn't like Sara-chan but if we think like that he should also hate Nami-san and Robin-swan which he doesn't...Is it only because Sara-chan is returning my flirt? _

Sanji couldn't understand why it mattered so much.

_That jealous Marimo...Well, I admit he might be a little cute when he sulks like that but it's not fun if he acts like that all the time...But still...it's probably the first time someone is feeling jealous over me ~ _

He didn't really want to admit the fact that jealous Zoro made him somehow happy.

_The idea of Zoro being gay never even crossed my mind but the idea of all-the-ladies-man suddenly turning gay is pretty absurd!But well, anything is possible I guess..._

...

Zoro was back to his training. Everyone guessed something must have happened to calm the man's nerves so that he could go on with his training. Nobody except Robin, however, knew what excatly had happened between the two males. She often chuckled by herself and didn't bother to explain herself to other people on board but everyone just thought she was being her usual, weird self.

It was somehow surprising how often the swordman found his way to the kitchen to help the ladies. The fact that Zoro was being almost a gentleman and Sanji stopping his constant swooning meant that something must have happened between the two males but neither of them spoke a word about it. Well, as if Sanji would tell everyone that he had kissed a man and Zoro would admit that he had turned into a softie.

Sara was playing around as usual, trying to gain Sanji's attention but noticed that Sanji was not his usual self.

"Excuse me, Sanji-san, but did something happen?" Sara asked a straight guestion.

"Ah?" Sanji voiced out, wondering how the girl had noticed the difference in his behaviour.

"Well, you are not flirting with girls like usual. I bet something must have happened!" Sara explained and Sanji swallowed hard.

"The fact that you are worried about me makes me extremely happy, Sara-chan!" Sanji tried to swoon like usual but failed. "It's probably something you would never expect..."

"Did you fight with someone?" Sara guessed but Sanji shoke his head. " Then what?"

"I don't know if I should tell you...you are a little bit too young to handle these sorts of things..." Sanji tried to get out of the situation but it resulted into a slap to his face.

"DON'T YOU THINK THAT I AM SOME STUPID TEENAGER!" Sara shouted, sounding a little insulted. "Did that swordman do something?!" Sara asked, insisting a proper answer and Sanji blushed.

"Well...you could say that..." Sanji admitted but didn't want to explain any further. Well, he didn't want to anger a lady any further either.

Sara slapped Sanji again and kicked the infirmary door open. On her way to somewhere she pushed Zoro out of her way violently, not really caring if the man got injured or not.

Zoro just looked after the raged woman and then he looked at the broken infirmary door. He stood up slowly and got a closer look at the door."You really angered her this time." He lifted the door back to it's place but they still needed Franky to fix it. He was somehow astonished by the fact that the woman was strong enough to break trough the door.

Sanji just sat there, stunned by the woman's behavior.

"Your behavior is causing some real trouble this time," Zoro stated suddenly.

"Eh?" Sanji voiced out, not really sure what the swordman meant.

"She has a crush on you. Are you blind or something?" Zoro explained and it looked like Sanji had had no idea of Sara's feelings. "Your constant flirting is making her believe that she has some hope. She is just a young girl whose hormones are playing tricks on her!"

Sanji hadn't even realised the situation. Had he really made a young girl in her teens fall in love with him? It had never happened before: other women had just pushed him away and called him pervert but apparently Sara was different.

"I...didn't even think of that..." Sanji hissed and turned his head away from the swordman but the stronger man grabbed his jaw and turned his face back to his direction.

"What made her so angry?" Zoro asked, staring at the slightly red slap-marks on the blond's face.

Sanji blushed slightly at the guestion and tried to turn his head away but he couldn't: the swordman's grip was strong. "Well, I just said that I didn't want to tell her anything because she is so young..."

Zoro thought about the cook's words for a while. "That's almost the same as telling that she is too young for you. She thinks that you rejected her."

Sanji was surprised how calmly the swordman spoke and how well he could see trough Sara's behavior. "Eh, I would have never thought that Marimo would be this good at reading other people."

"Maybe it's my hidden talent," Zoro joked.

"That would be something new!" Sanji chuckled and Zoro of all the people blushed slightly at the sight.

The swordman finally let go of the blond's jaw only to grab him into one fierce kiss. Sanji had no time to react to the sudden action so he just ended up mirroring the stronger man's movements. He was surprised to notice the swordman ending the kiss pretty soon but it was only for another purpose: Zoro only moved lower to plant small kisses on his neck. Sanji tensed at the new feeling but didn't pull away.

"Sorry, did I surprise you?" Zoro inquired carefully when he noticed the other man tensing under his touch. He didn't want to scare the other man.

"I didn't know you were jealous and impatient type..." Sanji teased, not wanting to reveal how flustered he actually was.

"Whatever",Zoro hissed,"But you should say your real feelings straight to her face and not try to avoid it! The chef I know is not a coward!"

Sanji thought about it for a second. "Is this meant to be a competition?"

Zoro grinned widely. "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't."

"Then it's a poor one. What's the point in this competition?"

"Whether you can split your feelings out to her or not. I vote for no," Zoro explained.

"Then I vote for yes. Do we have a deal?"

"I think we have a deal."

"Good."

"Good."

...


	20. Threatening sword

20th chapter! *cheering for myself* :D I think I am starting to fangirl myself slightly when I can't realise it's me writing these stories :_D But well, here goes another chapter of this fanfic :) I will slowly develop their relationship as you have probably noticed :)

...

"Is there something I could do?" Sara asked, genuinely interested in working. She needed something else to think than the idiotic chef who didn't notice her feelings and most of all, he didn't respond to them.

"Well, everyone has their own works around here..." Nami sighed and tried to think of something to do for the young woman. Even though she was a guest, she didn't want to waste the offer of help. "Actually, are you good at sewing and patching clothes?"

"I am pretty good, actually!" Sara praised herself. "I used to fix all the clothes back at the mansion!"

"Then you could ask everyone if they had something you could patch! I am probably the only one in this crew who has even the slightest ability to handicrafts and I am busy keeping eye on the weather and log!" Nami explained and Sara nodded before she rushed off.

Sara was really pleased to have something to do. Now she could forget all the things which had caused the earlier out-burst and show Sanji how good of a woman she was! She was not a kid by any means and she wanted to show it!

...

Sanji was allowed to return to his work with strict instructions: someone had to keep an eye on him and help him in the kitchen all the time and he had to inform Chopper immediately if something felt wrong. Even though he couldn't taste-test his cookings, cooking was natural to him. Sanji had agreed to his terms but found them hard to follow: not only it was annoying when someone had to babysit him all the time but also he couldn't work like usual when he had to let someone help him. He was used to work alone so it was weird having someone around.

Everyone expect Luffy were allowed to help him. Well, Sanji didn't want to let ladies help him so that meant only Franky, Brook, Usopp, Chopper and Zoro counted. Chopper was busy with his medical studies so Sanji counted him out quickly and then he thought that the clumsy skeleton would do nothing but harm in his beloved kitchen. And then there were three.

Franky was actually surprisingly good in the kitchen. He was used to working with his hands and the small hands appearing from his palms made it much easier for him to cook or in his case do some detailed work. Well, he had some ridiculous ideas of heating the food with beams instead of oven but Sanji refused the offer.

Usopp was also used to working with his hands but he wasn't as good as the cyborg. He was trying to make an impression a little bit too much but he was able to do some basic food on his own. Maybe it was because of his years alone after his mother died that he had had to learn to cook on his own.

Then Zoro was in his own league. He had no experience in cooking but he was pretty good at using knives.

"Born to be a vegetable-chopper, eh?" Sanji teased the green-haired man when he watched his working over his shoulder.

"My dream was to become one from the very beginning, yeah," Zoro teased back and suddenly turned to look at the man behind his back. Sanji had already returned to his work and he couldn't see how the swordman was mentally trying to strip him. Thank gods for his good imagination! Then he tried to shake the wild ideas out of his head because he had to focus on his job.

...

After the not-so-usual-meal ( since Luffy couldn't taste ) Zoro tried to go up to the crows nest to do his training. Well, he couldn't reach his training spot, the lost child he was.

"Got lost again, Mr Marimo?" Zoro heard a chuckle behind his back. The insulting name was familiar but the voice belonged to someone else.

"What are you doing here?" Zoro hissed at Sara who smiled gleefully at him.

"Nothing. Just wondering how you can get lost on your own ship," Sara answered honestly. "Do you need any help?"

"Not from you at least," Zoro said in a dark tone and tried to get away from the woman. But the woman just stepped closer and blocked his way out of the situation.

"What happened between you and Sanji-san?" She asked, demanding for a proper answer.

"That's none of your business. Move out of my way," Zoro said in a threatening tone.

"That's my business! What happened?!" Sara raised her voice a little bit.

"Move out of my way or I will - - " Zoro threatened but Sara interrupted him.

"You will what? Oh I am so scared!" Sara teased the swordman. "You know that Sanji will kill you if you hurt me?"

Sara was surprised that her words had no effect at all when the swordman pulled out his sword and pressed it against her throat in a split second. She tried to swallow but felt the cold metal pressing against her throat so she didn't.

"You think you are something special to him? If you think that I am scared of him, you are wrong. Not because I am stronger than him, but because I trust him. He would never hurt his nakama because of some stranger who by some accident got onto our ship!" Zoro hissed at the woman and enjoyed the scared look on her face.

"Let me go..." Sara asked almost nicely but Zoro only laughed at her.

"Should I let go of you when you didn't move out of my way?" Zoro reasoned. "I don't think so. But let me tell you something before I will be nice enough to remove the sword from your throat, okay? You are just a kid playing around in her fantasy world. You know nothing about the real life and the real life of a pirate. Sanji is a pirate. You know nothing about being a pirate."

Zoro removed his sword slowly and put it back to it's place. Sara felt really relieved to have the sword further from her throat but it was now clear to her that the swordman could kill her easily if he wanted to.

It annoyed her.

It annoyed her way too much.

...

"Hey idiots and all the lovely ladies on board! It's dinner!" Sanji shouted the usual shout. Luffy rushed to the kitchen as usual but then seemed to remember that he couldn't taste and he got all gloomy. Taking the first bite, he realised the meat was delicious like usual.

"MEAT IS GOOD AGAIN!" Luffy cheered and Sanji sighed.

_The hell is loose again..._

He stared at how Luffy stole even more food than usual and how he forgot all the table manners - well, as if that was something new.

"Sara-chan! Would you mind taking his sense of taste again? He would be way more and easier to handle!" Sanji suggested.

Sara nodded and smiled widely."Of course! I would do anything for you!"

Nami and Robin shared looks behind others' backs but said nothing.

"Sanji! Don't ask her do something like that!" Luffy shouted, mouth full of food.

"Why not? You are not enjoying your meals even one bit anyways!" Sanji preached at their captain and got approving nods from others.

"You can't do that!" Luffy whined before he realised something rather important.

"But Luffy - - " Sanji started but was interrupted by their captain who had realised his position.

"No. Captain's orders," Luffy ordered and Sanji sighed deeply - he knew when he saw a lost fight.

"Aye aye, captain."

...

**Author's note:**

Ah, luckily I have got many papers full of detailed ideas of the scenes in this fanfic! :D They are a lot of use to me! :) But please review and tell me what you think of my work! I guess that some of you are confused by Sara's behavior but she is 16-years old young girl who is used to getting everything she wants expect freedom at the mansion and well, she is sort of a teenager yet so her hormones are playing tricks on her :D It's pretty normal that a teenage girl gets obsessed with something :P

P.S I did the check on this chapter by myself and I hope I succeeded without my beta for this! :D ( she will check the later chapters of course but this was an expetion, I hope! :D )


	21. Stupid competition

21th chapter! 21 is my favourite number, btw :D I hope you are patiently waiting for yaoi :3

...

Sara walked on the deck alone. It was a calm night with no wind at all. She was trying to think calm and think like an adult to convince Sanji of...something.

Then she saw a skull in the dim light of candle and got startlet. "DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT! WHY ARE YOU HOLDING A CANDLE LIKE THAT?!" Sara shouted when she recognised the familiar skeleton.

"I just found it interesting! Yohohohoho!" Brook laughed.

Sara couldn't believe they had someone as childish with them as the skeleton. He was acting like a teenaged boy at some times! "How old are you? Twelve?" Sara inquired.

"Proud eighty years!" Brook answered and Sara's jaw fell.

"That old?!" Sara hissed, a little bit shocked by the new piece of information. Then she decided to try and change the subject." What are you doing out so late? Isn't it Robin-san's watch today?"

"Listening." Brook answered shortly.

"Listening for what?" Sara inquired.

"Wind, waves, everything. It's like music to my ears! Even thought I don't have any ears! Yohohoho!" Brook exlained like a proper visionist.

Sara laughed politely."Oh yes, you were the musician, right? Do you get inspired like this?"

"Pretty much everything inspires me!" Brook nodded."Music is everywhere!"

Sara thought about it for a second. Well, she didn't know much about music so she couldn't understand it. "Why is a musician in a pirate crew?"

"Eh?" Brook voiced out.

"Well, I mean that...it's weird somehow..." Sara admitted and Brook laughed.

"Luffy-san decided that pirates need to be cheerful and sing! He wanted to have a musician in the crew before a doctor! Luckily the fate didn't let him do so when they met Chopper before me, yohohohoho!" Brook explained and Sara nodded slightly.

"By the way, who was the first one to join?" Sara asked suddenly.

"I think it was Zoro-san."

"But he was a bounty hunter, right? How did he..." Sara remembered.

"..stop being a pirate hunter and become pirate instead? I don't know about that but I think he has made some sort of manly promise to someone and he is now chasing after his dreams!" Brook guessed.

Sara fell silent for a while before she headed towards the girls bedroom.

"Ano,Sara-chan..." Brook stopped her."May I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Sara asked and realised the mistake she had made.

"Could you show me your panties?!" Brook asked, voice full of hope.

"Eighty years old skeleton is asking me to show my panties?! NO WAY!" Sara said and kicked the idiot further from her. It was pretty easy because the skeleton was only bones - he was pretty light.

...

It was time for the breakfast but Zoro didnt' arrive in time. Everyone suspected that he was lost again but Sanji knew he was doing his morning training in the crow's nest.

"I will get that idiot, you can start eating," Sanji sighed and forgot the fact that nobody was watching after Luffy. Well, maybe Nami could handle him.

Sanji climbed up and stepped into the crow's nest. Zoro was lifting another one of his humongous weights. Sanji stared at him for a while, trailing one drop of sweat with his eyes when it traveled trought the stronger man's torso. He gulped slightly at the sight.

"What? You have something to say?" Zoro asked, grinning a little when he had noticed the look the chef had given to him. Sanji blushed slightly and cleared his throat.

"I just came to inform you that the breakfast is ready," Sanji said and Zoro nodded. He stared at the weights and was about to lift it with his hands but realised he shouldn't do it with them. Instead, he kicked the weight of the ground and catched it with his foot. He saw the swordman rolling his eyes: he was probably thinking that weights shouldn't be lifted like that.

"What? You have something to say?" Sanji asked but didn't even expect for an answer. "I got it off the ground and I believe only that matters."

Zoro sighed deeply and stared at the chef."Close enough."

Sanji grinned before Zoro moved to his direction and grabbed him from the waist. He almost got off the balance. "Don't move or we will both be crushed beneath that weight," Zoro reminded Sanji, pointing at the weight who was above their heads and the only thing keeping it there was Sanji's leg.

"Let me go so that I can get it down," Sanji asked almost nicely and tried to reason with the other man but Zoro had some other plans.

He started to place small butterfly kissed on Sanji's neck and ears, trying to distract the man. It was actually pretty enjoyable to tease the blond like that.

"You are blushing," Zoro noted and Sanji turned his face so that Zoro couldn't see it.

"Should I let go of this weight? Maybe the hit could turn you into less of an idiot!" Sanji hissed and swallowed hard. His throat and mouth were getting dry.

"Do as you wish. I am ready to catch the weight if you can't keep it up," Zoro grinned and Sanji knew what that look meant.

"Is this one of those stupid competitions again?" He asked to make sure of his assumptions.

"I guess it is," Zoro said, grinning wildly. He continued assaulting the blonds neck and moved lower to his collarbone. He used his other hand to touch the other man's sides and back slightly. He felt Sanji shudder under his touch, just slightly.

_That idiot...Well I know he can catch the weight if I loose my focus but I can't loose! Tsk, why did he have to make this into a competition?! _

Then Sanji felt his puncture wound starting to itch. In a bad way, of course.

_Don't tell me I re-opened it again?! Chopper is going to kill me and tie me up into the bed!_

Zoro realised that the blond was getting distracted by something else than his mouth and hands this time. He looked up at the chef and recognised the very familiar look of the tough man: he was trying to hide the pain. "Did your wound re-open?"

"Eh?" Sanji voiced out, not sure if the swordman had really managed to read his expression so well. He had no time to answer, however, when Zoro slid his hand under his suit jacket, feeling the warm blood oozing trough the wound.

"Idiot", Zoro grumbled,"Just let that weight fall down. I will catch it and we will get Chopper to look at your wound."

"This was supposed to be a competition, remember?" Sanji smirked slightly.

"Then I will give up if that makes it easier for you to let go of that weight."

"Yeah yeah, I mean WHAT?!" Sanji shouted when he realised what the other man said."YOU?!Giving up?!"

"If it's the only way to get you stop this competition," Zoro grinned and Sanji dropped the weight.

"Then the victory is mine," Sanji grinned widely.

"Whatever," Zoro hissed before he stepped closer to the chef to whisper something to his ear."I will take my victory in one way or another, trust me."

...

"What took you guys so long?!" Nami cursed when the duo arrived to the kitchen. "Luffy managed to steal your shares of food!"

Sanji blinked, kicked the gomu-idiot and smiled at Nami."Don't worry, my dear Melorine! I can cook something simple for just the two of us!"

"Just the two of you?" Robin chuckled and smirked at the two males.

"I am a chef so I can't let this idiot starve!" Sanji said, pointing at Zoro who was following him like a puppy by some unknown reason to the other crew. The crew changed looks of "what-the-hell-is-going-on?" but nobody had enough courage to ask anything when the swordman sticked his tongue out at Sara.

"Ah, Chopper! This idiot is bleeding again~" Zoro said and whistled when he noticed that the blond was trying to avoid Chopper's preach.

"WHAT?!" Chopper shouted angrily and lifted the chef to his shoulder, dragging him to the infirmary.

...


	22. Dirty job

Chapter 22! I was really pleased with the competition-scene in the previous chapter and I hope you guys enjoyed it too :) I know I might process in their relationship almost too slowly but I want to give them some space to develop their relationship and also give the crew some space in the story too :) And I am sorry but I had to do the beta-work again, I hope you can manage! :D

Thanks to all who have reviewed, favorited and followed this story! They really cheer me up and keep me writing! :D And of course thanks to everyone who have read this fanfic and want to read it until the happy ending :D

...

Sara was somehow confused by the swordman's behavior earlier when the man had sticked his tongue out at her behind Sanji's back. The gesture was confident, it was as if he had won some price Sara was trying to reach.

Sara wondered what could have happened between the two males. It didn't look like the two males had fought, almost the opposite. She had her suspicions of what had happened but then again, she couldn't believe Sanji would turn gay all of the sudden. She had seen him swooning after women for too much!

"How long will it take to reach the next island, Nami-san?" Sara asked, smiling gently at the navigator.

"I can't be too sure but my guess would be from four days to one week. But this is the New World so we have to be prepared for anything!" Nami smirked a little.

Sara thought about it for a while. So she had few more days left before she should leave the ship and start to live with her mother - she had only few days time to decide whether to stay or not. She had started to think she would do anything just to stay with the blond-haired gentleman. It was sort of an teenage obsession, actually.

...

Sanji woke up with a killer headache. Not only could he hear even the smallest noises but every dim of light made his eyes hurt also.

_Shit...what time is it...Should I prepare breakfast or something...? _

He couldn't open his eyes, however, because of the strong light and he blocked his ears from all the noises around him.

_Is this some sort of after effect from Sara's powers? I should be a lot more delicted that a lady touched me but still, curse this headache!_

Sanji stood up slowly and went towards the kitchen, seeing everyone there already chewing on something.

"Ah, Sanji-kun!" Nami greeted the blond."You were late from your work so Sara-san prepared the breakfast for us!"

Sanji blinked, rubbing his temples. He couldn't understand how he could have overslept from his work. Usually he was the first one to wake up.

"Something wrong, cook-san?" Robin inquired when he noticed the face the chef was making.

"The fact that you worry about me makes me the most delighted, Robin-swan!" Sanji tried to swoon as usual but ended up blocking his own ears from his own swooning. "I am fine, I just have a killer headache..." He finally admitted and closed his eyes.

"Are your senses of hearing and seeing oversensitive?" Sara inquired and Sanji nodded slightly." Then it's my fault again. I should have guessed your senses wouldn't be back to normal this soon...but the fact that your other senses are reacting might mean that your sense of taste and smell are coming back soon too!"

Sanji just nodded but the harsh movement caused a stinging pain in his head so he hissed out aloud from the pain.

"Do you need some painkillers?" Chopper asked with a worried tone.

"Painkillers would be very welcome," Sanji admitted and allowed himself being dragged back to the infirmary when he had just gotten out of there and sleep in his own bed.

Chopper gave Sanji a quick check to make sure if something else was wrong with the man. Sanji complained slightly that his side was itching so Chopper looked at the wound and found out it was slightly inflamed.

"This wound has been inflamed but it's so deep that I need to operate," Chopper informed and Sanji gulped.

"Is it that bad?"

"Well, it's not bad but if I won't treat it, it might cause some further damage and it could also cause a bad blood poisoning if left untreated," Chopper explained. "Lay down and I will give you some anesthetic."

Sanji laid down as the doctor ordered and took his time to calm down. It was nothing unusual for him to be on the operation table but he still didn't exactly enjoy it. He hated the dizzy feeling after the operation, he hated the fact he had to just lay down and be vulnerable to any sort of attack and be able to do nothing if something happened.

Then Chopper touched his forehead carefully. "You have a slight fever. It might mean that you are already suffering from blood poisoning. Let me give you some antidote to kill the bacteria too."

Sanji didn't refuse the offer. He had to get better soon and return to his job, after all. He would lay there and let the anesthetic affect him, let the small doctor operate him and then get back to work as soon as possible. Besides, their crew couldn't affort loosing a chef who was able to keep up with their captain's appetite.

...

Sara washed the dishes with a smile on her face. She had had a change to prove that even she could be useful for the crew and she would continue like this if needed.

When she finished washing the dishes, she noticed that the pipes were probably stuck because the water didn't run.

"Excuse me, Usopp-san?" Sara said and tried to get the long-nosed man's attention. "The kitchen pipe is stuck."

Usopp blinked at the indirect request but didn't stop his own project."You wanted to take care of the kitchen so please do so!" He adviced and Sara blushed.

"But..." Sara whined but Usopp didn't give any sympathy.

"If you are on a pirate ship, you shouldn't be afraid of getting your hands dirty, you know?" Usopp winked at Sara who was utterly confused by the situation.

"What? The little lady is scared of getting her fragile hands dirty?" Zoro chose just that moment to get lost into Usopp's factory.

"The kitchen pipe is stuck," Usopp informed the swordman who raised a brow.

"I guess I have no other choice but to open it!" Zoro said and grinned at Sara." Because certain someone is too scared of dirt..."

Sara bit her teeth and headed towards the kitchen."Fine! I will do it myself!"

"That's the spirit!" Zoro said in a mocking tone, trying to annoy the woman. Usopp noticed the tension between the two of them but said nothing.

Sara wasn't going to open the pipe, however. She went straight to Franky's workshop, disturbing his piece and quiet. "You are the shipwright, right?"

Franky raised his sunglasses to look at the woman."That's right. But have you ever heard of knocking the door before you enter?"

"Sorry about that!" Sara apologised but it didn't sound like she was feeling sorry at all. "Could you open the kitchen pipe? If you built this ship, I know you can open one pipe at least!"

Franky stared at the woman."There is nothing on this ship that this super cyborg couldn't do! But still, you said you could take care of the kitchen so it's your job!" Franky hissed and Sara looked utterly stunned.

Sara tried to ask almost every member of the Strawhat crew to do the job for her. Nobody volunteered even though she asked nicely. Maybe she should have agreed to the skeleton's terms of showing her panties?

Finally she had to admit her lost and she started to open the pipe. Screaming was heard from the kitchen when she got a big piece of dirt out of the pipe. Robin knocked the door gently and opened the door." Is something wrong, Sara-san?"

"This is way too dirty job to my liking!" Sara whined but Robin only chuckled at her. She watched her working for a while before the younger woman finished her job.

"You know, there are some rubber gloves in the bathroom closet. You didn't need to do the job with your bare hands," Robin chuckled and left the kitchen and the very-annoyed Sara behind.

...

**Author's note:**

Opening a pipe was just a wild idea to show how a young girl is scared of doing dirty jobs XD


	23. Zoro volunteering!

23th chapter! I know the idea of Sara joining the crew is weird but don't worry, I have a plan which will be revealed in this chapter :P Poor Sanji, getting his wound inflected :/

...

Sara tried to avoid the fact that she didn't like most of the members on board. The skeleton was a pervert, the long-nosed man and the cyborg were not polite enough to help a lady and that swordman was annoying as hell. She only thought that it would be enough for her to spend time with Sanji.

Sara saw the Strawhat's captain sitting on top of the lion's head and she headed to that direction. She tried to gain more courage on her way there and feel more confident about herself. She was repeating to herself something like "I am totally worth of being taken into this crew."

She stepped closer to the rubbery man and tapped his shoulder. "Ah, Sara! Do you want to play tag?!" Luffy asked, grinning widely as usual.

"I wanted to ask if I could join your crew," Sara asked directly and Luffy's facial impression changed.

"No way," Luffy said strictly, staring at the young woman seriously.

"What- - " Sara staggered. "Why?" Sara insisted a proper answer. She wasn't going to give up so easily.

"You are not interesting, that's all," Luffy explained but it wasn't enough for Sara.

"But I could be of use!" Sara tried to reason with the idiotic captain."I can cook, I can clean, I can fix your clothes!"

"I am not interested in what you can do!" Luffy hissed. He was getting a little bit annoyed by the stubborn woman. Well, as if he wasn't stubborn himself, too."I never pick my people because of their talents!"

Their conversation had gotten everyone's attention and they were trying to listen to what they were talking about.

"But - - " Sara tried to say something clever but Luffy interrupted her.

"You are our friend and that's fine!" Luffy said and smirked at the woman." But you are not suitable to join a pirate crew!"

Sara didn't know what to say. She had been too sure that the idiotic captain would not refuse her suggestion. She had just wanted to hold onto Sanji and keep sailing with him.

...

Everyone tried to act as if nothing had happened between their captain and Sara. Well, Luffy was acting as usual but Sara was acting a little bit gloomy. She gave glares at Luffy and turned her head away as soon as felt someone staring at her. She was acting like an angered school-girl who had been rejected.

She avoided everyone and didn't volunteer to do the kitchen work for Sanji who was still under the effect of anesthetic. She just rushed away whenever someone tried to approach her.

...

Franky almost cursed out aloud when he had to fix the infirmary door. The woman had destroyed the hinges pretty well and he had to re-make them fully. The door itself was okay.

"Why are all the women like this..." Franky sighed by himself.

"They are difficult, indeed," Zoro joined Franky and sighed deeply. "Men are much more simple...Women are bothersome..."

...

Sanji woke up around the sunset. He was feeling a little dizzy because of the anesthetic and painkillers but he didn't complain. The puncture wound was itching slightly but it was a good sort of itching,telling him that the wound had been cleaned properly.

He tried to get out of the bed but found out soon that his legs couldn't carry him.

_Curse my luck...Should I shout for Chopper? No, he would get worried and rush in here as if I was about to die..._

He was surprised to see a smiling face on the infirmary door's window and the door opening slowly. "Sanji-kun!" Nami greeted the man."How are you feeling?"

"I am fine thanks, Nami-swan!" Sanji swooned and Nami smiled.

"Would you like to get something to eat? There is some soup left in the fridge," she inquired and Sanji nodded when his stomach grumbled. Nami smirked at him and headed towards the kitchen but Sanji stopped him.

"But I can't possibly expect you to bring it to me!" Sanji said and tried to stand up but couldn't.

"Don't worry about it, Sanji-kun!" Nami reassured the chef."It's not much of a trouble,really! You can barely sit straight!"

Sanji admitted his destiny but then he realised that it was Nami to whom he was talking to."Are you going to ask for money?"

Nami blinked at the guestion."Don't worry! Even though I love money, I can't try to take profit of you when you are injured!"

Sanji smiled at the navigator gently and the woman stepped out of the infirmary to grab the food for their chef.

...

"WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MY KITCHEN?!" was the first thing everyone heard in the morning. Everyone rushed into the kitchen but the quilty one was trying to hide behind Nami's back.

"Sorry, Sanji-san! I forgot to lock the fridge!" Nami apologiced.

"I won't blame you, my dear Nami-san!" Sanji reassured the woman."But whoever did this is gonna have his guts spilled and I have got a pretty good guess of who it was!"

Sanji gently pulled Nami out of the way and looked at their rubbery captain who tried to act all innocent. "Luffy..." Sanji said in a threatening voice.

"I did nothing really!" Luffy lied. He was a lot worse liar than Usopp.

"Oh! How did the raw meat taste?" Sanji asked and smiled at their captain who was too easy to fool.

"It was DELICIOUS!" Luffy praised and got a kick to his stomach.

"Don't worry, Nami-san! I will make sure this idiot will sit all day catching fish if he has to!" Sanji vowed.

"But we can't leave captain-san close to water without someone watching his back," Robin noted.

"Why is that?" Sara inquired and Usopp put his hands around her in a friendly way.

"Luffy is an idiot. If he sees something interesting in the water, he will jump in and forget he can't swim!" Usopp explained and Sara blinked.

"He can't swim?" Sara asked, dumbfounded."Is he an idiot or something?"

"All the devil fruit user's are hammers," Brook noted and Sara blinked again.

"Does that mean that...I can't swim too?!" Sara panicked. She had never swam but she had always dreamed of swimming into the sunset.

"Of course it includes you too!" Franky stated and Sara's shoulders fell.

"Back to the topic, everyone!" Nami hissed."Who is going to watch after Luffy? No, Chopper and Brook are not allowed since we don't want to end up saving three hammers from the water!"

Sanji poked Zoro's side just slightly but strongly enough for the other man to notice it. "What do you want? Don't tell me you expect me to - - " he asked in a quiet voice.

"- - who else is there?" Sanji asked."Besides, you would only nap all day long!"

"What are you two whispering in there?" Usopp inquired and Sanji kicked Zoro's foot hard.

"Ah! This idiot volunteered to watch after Luffy!" Sanji announced.

"HEY!" Zoro hissed."I said nothing of sort of!"

"Thank you Zoro! We will count on you!" Nami said with a big smile on her face.

"You can't decide for me!" Zoro whined but felt Nami staring at him with the usual, devil look.

"Fine! I will raise your debt a little bit more..." Nami said and smirked wildly.

"FINE! I VOLUNTEER!" Zoro interrupted the woman who smiled like a winner. He turned to leave the kitchen but before he did, he pulled Sanji closer and whispered to his ear."You are gonna pay for this, trust me!"

Sanji smirked and whispered back."I would love to see you try."

...


	24. Sanji no sexual harassment

24th chapter! Greetings to my loyal readers! :D I am in a really good mood and the story is developing all the time in my head! I hope you are pleased with the story and do not hesitate to send review or pm so that I know if I did a good job :) My beta is fangirling a little bit too much and she is blushing while reading kissing scenes...I wonder how she will react when she reads about ***** :D

...

The day was pretty normal day on Sunny-Go. Well, apart from the fact that their captain was forced to catch fish all day long to fill their fridge. Zoro was babysitting him all the time and even though he fell asleep every now and then, he would wake up to the noises of Luffy falling into the sea.

Sara was trying to figure out why these guys were pirates in the first place. For her it looked like most of them were idiots who had no hope in surviving. She saw their idiotic captain, she saw their idiotic hammer-trio who couldn't remember they can't swim, she saw a swordman whose neck could be cut while he was napping and even though she didn't want to admit it, she saw a gentleman who would swoon after women and be trapped easily.

Well, she had few days left before the next island. She wanted to have as much memories as possible before leaving the ship. She wanted to spend a lot of time with Sanji and treasure all the memories she could make.

...

Sanji was back to work even though he was feeling slightly dizzy and maybe a little bit like throwing up. Chopper had warned him that when the antidote attacks the bacteria, he might feel a little bit sick. Sanji didn't want to spend yet another day in the infirmary, however, so he forced himself to get back to work.

Brook came into the kitchen, offering his help. Luffy wasn't feeling like listening to music so the musician had nothing to do.

"Well, you could always chop those vegetables for me..." Sanji adviced and Brook grabbed the knife.

"Hey Curly-cook!" Franky greeted the chef when he stepped into the kitchen."Nami ordered me to ask when the food is ready!"

"Tell my lovely Nami-san that it will take around half an hour!" Sanji said and Franky raised a thumb.

"Roger that! Nami is going to waste water again with one luxurous bath..." Franky sighed and Sanji's eyes opened widely.

"NAMI-SAN IS GOING TO BATH?!" Sanji swooned and danced around the kitchen."Brook, this is our chance!"

"I like your logic, Sanji-san!" Brook cheered and they were about to step out from the kitchen when they stopped to look at Franky."You are not coming with us?"

"Sorry but this super cyborg is not interested in peeking on women!" Franky explained but saw the grin on the blond's face.

"You are dishonouring your title of hentai like that...a true hentai would never skip a chance like this!" Sanji explained.

"Well that's something new..." Franky wondered out aloud."Fine. I will join you guys to keep my title!"

...

"Really, were you trying to peek on her again?" Zoro sighed at Brook."You guys never learn."Then he looked a little further and saw the cyborg with a bang in his head next to the skeleton."Not you too, Franky?"

"Sorry but I had to hold onto my title as hentai!" Franky explained but it didn't make any sense to Zoro. As far as he knew, the hentai wasn't really that kind of a hentai who would peek on girls. He just walked around wearing only panties and some flashy hawaii-shirt.

"Brook, will you ever learn that Nami is always on her guard?" Zoro hissed at the skeleton.

"Don't blame me, Zoro-san! It was Sanji-san's idea!" Brook defended himself and Zoro noticed the blond rubbing his head aside the wall. When Sanji raised his head to look at Zoro, the swordman just looked at him coldly.

"I am dissapointed in you, Ero-cook," Zoro said and turned away. He felt pretty hurt by the fact that Sanji was still drooling after women even though they had some sort of relationship. Or did they? It wasn't anything official but they had kissed, many times, right? And the blond hadn't pushed him away or rejected him. At least not directly.

...

Sanji threw up before going to sleep. He thought of informing Chopper but then again, it could be nothing to worry about. Besides, he was a part of monster trio! He couldn't whine about small things like that! Good nights sleep would be enough for him and he would feel pretty much normal tomorrow again!

It was already dark and everyone expect Sanji and the person in watch were probably asleep. He tried to walk quietly back to the boys bedroom but felt someone's presence behind his back.

Then he was pushed violently against the wall. He groaned in pain but didn't dry to escape when he saw the very familiar, green hair.

"What the hell do you think you are doing, Baka-Marimo?!" Sanji hissed at Zoro. It was so dark Sanji couldn't see the expression the swordman had on his face.

Zoro didn't bother to answer. He started to kiss the blond firmly and his hands roamed all over the blond's body. Sanji tried to push the agressive swordman away but his hands were not as strong as Zoro's and he couldn't use his legs when the swordman stood too close.

"Zoro, stop it - - !" Sanji tried to order the man when he started to trail kisses from his neck to his chest. The man was slowly unbuttoning his shirt and Sanji had nowhere near enough power to push the man away. Besides, he started to get affected by the swordman's harassment

"Zoro, listen to me - -!" Sanji almost begged, feeling his body starting to betray him. The idiot didn't listen to him, however.

"STOP IT,YOU MARIMO!" Sanji shouted and used his remaining force to push the man away from him. The moment the swordman let go of him, he fell on the ground when his legs couldn't hold him straight. Trying to catch his breath and stop the ridiculous panting, he couldn't look at Zoro's direction. He was flustered and blushed way too much to his own liking. "What the hell you think you are doing?!"

Zoro just stared at the blond innocently."Oh?" Zoro voiced out."I thought that it was you who misbehaved first,"the swordman hissed angrily.

"Wha- - " Sanji staggered. He didn't understand what the former pirate hunter meant, at least not immediately. When he did, he sighed deeply."I am sorry if that disturbed you. It's just that old habits die hard."

Zoro hadn't expected that the blond would apologice so quickly. "Why did you push me away?" he asked when nothing clever came to his mind.

"Eh?" Sanji wondered.

"Well, ratherly why didn't you push me away earlier," Zoro inquired and Sanji gazed at the swordman.

"It's..." Sanji hesitated for a while, not sure what to answer."I am not sure..."

Zoro was about to ask more guestions when he was sent flying by a kick. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Zoro shouted at Sanji who had kicked him. All he could hear was Sanji cursing under his breath."Ero-cook?"

Sanji pulled the spear out of his shoulder and groaned in discomfort. "I saved your sorry ass, you idiot!" Sanji hissed, sounding annoyed by the whole situation.

"OI, ZORO,SANJI!" Usopp shouted from the crow's nest. "MARINES ARE HERE!"

"Why didn't you inform us earlier?!" Zoro yelled back at the sniper.

"Are you an idiot or something?! It's dark and misty out there!" Sanji defended Usopp and heard others rushing out of their beds. He removed his suit jacket and tied it around his shoulder tightly. He would ask Chopper to check the wound later: for now, they had marines to beat.

...


	25. A bad talent

25th chapter! :D I really like the idea of Sanji saving Zoro :3 And I wanted to have a little bit of action for a change because well, it might get a little bit boring :P And jealous Zoro 3

...

"Pirates! Surrender yourself!" Was an order heard from the mist.

Sara stepped outside with others but was pushed back inside by Nami. "If they see you, you will be a wanted criminal! You shouldn't get involved in the fight!"

Sara looked around her with confusement on her face. Everyone else were standing there, prepared to fight for their dear lives. Then she noticed Sanji almost next to her."Sanji-san!" she shouted at the gentleman."You are wounded! You should come inside with me - - " Sara tried to protect the man but Sanji shoke his head.

"I can't. We are pirates and pirates can't run from a fight, injured or not," Sanji said with a grin."You go inside and hide yourself so that marines won't see you!"

Sara wanted to protect Sanji but couldn't refuse when it was Sanji who asked her to hide. She was thinking something like "Sanji wants to protect me!" and all sort of knight-images running in her teenage head. But it was nothing of sort of: all of the Strawhats didn't want to include innocent people.

As soon as Sara was safe, they started to fight seriously. The woman didn't hide, however, but stood by the window and watched the battle. Well, as if marines had enough time to look around when they had one of the big rookie crews to take care of.

Luffy attacked the strongest ones directly and tried to take them out as soon as possible. He trusted that others could take care of the lower-ranking marine soldiers. Zoro wiped out as many as possible with single movement and Sanji did his best to attack the soldiers from the air and protect his beloved ladies. Well, as if Nami or Robin would need any help when neither of them was weak by any means.

Franky tried to impress everyone with his new weapons and beams but the only thing he did was distract their captain,sniper and doctor from the battle. Brook was trying to force their enemies to the soft slumber of sleep but his attack affected their captain also. Usopp used raflesia to chase the remaining enemies at Chopper who had blocked his nose from the terrible smell before attacking.

It was an easy fight - well, as if one, single marine ship without high-ranking officers would be enough to beat them. The fight had been so easy that everyone wondered how Sanji had managed to get his shoulder injured.

"I was...distracted..." Sanji admitted, blushing slightly but luckily the darkness hid his face. He could feel Zoro staring at him but the idiot said nothing.

"Let me see the wound!" Chopper ordered and removed the jacked around the chef's shoulder. He looked at the wound carefully and finally sighed deeply."It's nothing serious but you should let your hand rest for a week."

"A WEEK?!" Sanji cursed.

"IF YOU WEREN'T SO STUBBORN I WOULD GIVE YOU ONE MONTH OF SICK LEAVE BUT I KNOW YOU CAN'T WAIT FOR SO LONG!" Chopper raged and stood up. "I will clean the wound in the infirmary, and no buts!"

Sanji sighed and nodded."Of course, doctor."

...

"Is Sanji-san alright?" Sara inquired from the small doctor.

"He is fine but I used some anesthetic to make sure he rests at least for a while!" Chopper explained and shoke his head. "Members of monster trio can be impossible!" He cursed by himself.

"Monster trio?" Sara wondered out aloud what that meant.

"That counts Luffy, Zoro and Sanji. They are the strongest ones in our crew and we call them 'monsters' because of their strenght,"Chopper informed.

"But doesn't Robin-san have a higher bounty than Sanji-san has?" Sara asked. If she remembered correctly, Robin had a bounty of 80 million and Sanji had a bounty of 77 million.

"Well, Robin is one of the rare people in this world who can read poneglyph and the World Government wants nobody to find out about the forbidden history they hide," Chopper told Sara who nodded slightly.

"I didn't know she had such an ability...does it mean she is not strong?" Sara inquired.

"You don't want to fight her, trust me! Robin is scary!" the small doctor panicked. Sara hadn't seen Robin fighting when her eyes had focused on Sanji. She had had no idea that the blond was that strong!

"By the way, I studied about some old medicines and herbs back at the mansion. I have one book about them and rest is in my head. Would you like to learn about them?" Sara offered her help when she knew bothering Sanji was not an option.

"Really?!" Chopper sounded utterly happy."I would love to!" Chopper said and Sara promised that she could tell him all of her information first thing in the morning.

...

Everyone got back to sleep after they had made sure there would be no other marine ships hiding in the mist and waiting for their chance to attack them. Brook's ability was pretty useful when Sanji had fallen victim to their doctor.

It was up to Luffy to stay out and keep watch. They never knew if the enemy was still out there and they needed someone with haki. Zoro was not suited for the job because everyone suspected that he would only nap all night long and Sanji was under the effect of anesthetic.

It was somehow weird how Luffy never complained about keeping the watch. The impatient idiot he was, he always thought the best for the crew and wanted to keep them safe. He could just sit all night long on top of Lion-chan's head and keep an eye on their surroundings, not moving a muscle. Well, when he stayed up all night he would notice when the chef woke up to prepare breakfast and interrupt his work by fooling around as usual,asking him to hurry up.

But this time Sanji wasn't going to wake up and cook, so it meant that their captain was probably going to steal some watch-snack by himself. It was a miracle how he managed to find all the food which wasn't locked away properly and destoy it in a blink of eye. It was sort of a talent to sniff the food - a bad talent, indeed.

...

**Author's note:**

Me and my dear beta enjoy when Sanji suffers as you can probably guess :P My beta said that "the more blood, the better" XD


	26. Rude gentleman?

chapter 26! :) I have written almost the whole story already but it takes time to work all the details etc :) I hope you enjoy and please review! I am working on another fanfic also, check my new story "Strawhat's police station" if the title gets you interested :)

...

Sanji woke up around midday the next day. Their doctor had given him a good dose of anesthetic to force him to rest for a while at least. He had received a new wound when the old ones weren't healed yet and he was suffering from a slight blood-poisoning which was apparently enough of a reason to drug him to sleep.

Sanji staggered on his feet and headed towards the kitchen. He knew he wasn't allowed to stress his shoulder but he wanted to make sure nobody had destroyed the kitchen during the night and the morning.

_Shit...I was just about to get back to my work and then something like this happens...gods must hate me...or Luffy..._

The kitchen was perfectly fine to his surprise. Everything was put to their right places, there was no leftovers on the table ( _as if there would be leftovers when Luffy is our captain...) _and everything was clean. The chef sighed deeply in relief.

He went on the deck and saw Zoro sitting on Luffy's usual place on top of Lion-chan's head. Sanji smirked a little at the sight and had an idea of how to distract the swordman from his meditation. Even though he knew the swordman hated if someone interrupted him during his meditation, Sanji was willing to take the risk.

Nobody else was on the deck. Chopper, Nami and Robin were probably in the library to read books and draw maps, Franky and Usopp were probably in their workshops developing their weapons as usual after fights. Then the perverted skeleton and their captain were probably in the aquarium room admiring the fishes.

Sanji tried to approach the swordman quietly even though he guessed Zoro knew he was coming. He stood behind the other man, not saying a word.

"What? You have something to say or are you just trying to disturb my training, Mr Nosebleed?" Zoro asked calmly but Sanji said nothing.

Instead of answering the guestions, Sanji approached the man and placed a small kiss on his cheek. Zoro got startlet by the sudden movement, lost his concentration and even fell off from top of the lion's head into the sea.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" Zoro hissed when he got back on the deck, pressing Sanji against the floor. There was cold sea water dripping from his clothes.

"Let go of me, Moss-head or Chopper will kill you for injuring his patient," Sanji adviced the green-haired man.

"If you wanted to get my attention so badly, why bother with such a trick?!" Zoro inquired and Sanji blushed at the guestion.

"I wasn't begging for your attention, you idiot!" Sanji hissed back at the man on top of him."Besides, you are heavy."

"Muscles weights a lot," Zoro said and grinned widely."And as you have probably noticed, I have lots of muscle."

Sanji tried to struggle out of the situation but saw only one way to get out when his legs were trapped again. And he wouldn't do such a low trick as kicking someone's family jewels if the situation wasn't utterly hopeless. And it wasn't. "Could you please get off me?"

Zoro didn't move from the spot, however. He allowed his hands to hover cross the new wound on the blond's shoulder and he saw Sanji gulp hard."Does it hurt?"

"Not really, it's only annoying," Sanji complained and Zoro chuckled before hiding his face against Sanji's chest. Usually the blond would have only gotten annoyed by the guestion but the mood prevented him from doing so.

"I am sorry about that," Zoro apologiced. Sanji could feel Zoro's breath against his skin but said nothing.

"It wasn't your fault - - " Sanji tried to reassure the man.

" - - I know that!" Zoro hissed quickly."But I still feel quilty."

They laid there on the deck quietly for a while, staring at each others eyes. It was really comfortable, the closeness they had. They could feel each others warm breaths on their faces without the awkwardness. Their both mouths got dry all of a sudden and they were trying to swallow while looking at each other closely.

Their sweet moment lasted for a while before Sara interrupted them. She stood there on top of the stairs, blushing hard. "What - - are you guys doing?!" she managed to stagger and both males could sense her rage. They jumped up as fast as they could and cleared their throats while blushing hard.

...

"Look, Brook! There is a huge fish in there!" Luffy cheered and made faces against the aquarium glass. Someone would have to clean all the snot and drool later.

"I can see it! It's huge!" Brook shouted at the captain."Ah! Even though I have no eyes to see! Yohohoho! Skull joke!"

"Skull joke!" Luffy cheered the skeleton."You are really funny! Another skull joke!"

"I can't come up with the jokes just when you order me, Luffy-san! My brains are all stiff!" Brook explained."Even though I don't have any brains! Yohohoho!"

...

Nami, Robin and Chopper could hear the duo shouting and laughing in the aquarium room.

"KEEP QUIET! I AM TRYING TO DRAW MAPS SERIOUSLY OVER HERE!" Nami shouted angrily and they heard how their captain and musician fell silent all of the sudden. "Really, those idiots never think of others!"

Chopper sighed deeply and continued reading the notes he had made with Sara. He had had lots of new information from the woman and the book she had brought with her was pretty useful too. He could study these new pieces of information and be a step closer in developing the cure to all diseases.

Robin smiled gently at the small doctor who was suddenly full of energy.

...

Usopp and Franky were depeloping their weapons below the deck when they heard Sara shouting at the deck. They couldn't hear what she was saying because of the voice insulating material Franky had installed. They could hear the angry woman on the deck and they knew that an angry woman shouldn't be approached: they had plently of experience of that with their navigator.

...

"What - - are you guys doing!?" Sara repeated the guestion when neither of them knew what to say.

"Sara-chan! What are you doing here?" Sanji tried his usual swooning but it didn't work on Sara.

"Don't think that I am some foolish teenager!" Sara hissed."I know what I saw!"

Sanji blushed but didn't know how to explain the situation. He couldn't understand how the woman had managed to surprise them but then again, they both had had their thoughts full of each other.

"Ero-cook. Kiss. Cheek,"Zoro spelled slowly." I. Sea. Zoro. Shock." He grinned at the woman who was clearly annoyed by the situation.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Sara shouted."Sanji-san would never do such a thing!"

"Sara-chan, please calm down!" Sanji almost begged the woman to take a deep breath before she would say or do something stupid.

"I WON'T!" Sara hissed at the blond."He is lying, isn't he?!"

Sanji pulled out a smoke and lit his cigarette. "Sorry, but he isn't."

Sara blinked before the answer sunk into her."You...kissed him?! Are you sick or something?!"

It was Sanji's turn to be angry. Well, only slightly because he was talking to a young lady."I don't know who you think you are when you judge us like that!"

"But - - I am a lady!" Sara staggered."You love ladies! I love you! You love me!" Sara yelled desperately and blushed.

"Let me tell you one thing," Zoro stepped forward with a threatening voice."This guy is a womanizer. You are nothing special in his league: you are just a teenaged girl with foolish fantasies, living in her fairytale world."

Sara took a threatening step forward the swordman who didn't move from the spot. As if he would loose in a theatfullnes against a teenaged girl!

"Both of you, calm down!" Sanji ordered and gave glances at both of them while stepping in between them.

"DON'T YOU INTERRUPT THIS!" Sara shouted and grabbed Sanji's shoulder to push him away from her way. Unfortunately it was Sanji's wounded shoulder and the man hissed in pain, glutching his shoulder hard.

"SANJI!" Sara shouted and tried to kneel next to the man she loved. She was utterly stunned to notice Sanji turning his head away, not even looking at her.

"Hey, Ero-cook," Zoro said calmly, not trying to approach the man. It was sort of a respectfull movement telling the chef that he was strong enough to stand a minor pain like that. "Do you want me to fetch Chopper?"

Sanji shoke his head and sat on the ground while holding his shoulder.

"I am...sorry, Sanji-san!" Sara apologiced. Tears were glistering in her eyes but it had no effect at all on the chef.

"I am sorry to ask you this, Sara-chan but could you please get away from me?" Sanji asked nicely but the words hurt the woman the most.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!" Sara yelled again. She was in her rage-mood again. "HOW CAN YOU TREAT A WOMAN WHO LOVES YOU LIKE THIS?!"

Sanji hissed and hid his face from Sara. Zoro stepped in and pushed the woman further from the chef. "What do you think you are doing? Shouting at the man you love? Hurting him?"

"THEN WHAT ABOUT YOU?!" Sara hissed back at the swordman."YOU DIDN'T WORRY OVER HIM WHEN HIS SHOULDER HURT, YOU JUST STOOD THERE AND WATCHED HIS SUFFERING! BESIDES, YOU ARE A MAN!"

"BECAUSE I TRUST HIM!" Zoro shouted back at the woman to silence her for a while."He can handle this sort of pain and I know that he hates the most if someone is fussing over a small wound!"

Sara gulped and was about to say something before Sanji stood up and interrupted her."That's right, Sara-chan. This wound is nothing in our league so stop fussing around and concentrate on getting back to your mother."

Sara couldn't take it anymore. Two Strawhats, especially the man she loved, were against her. "THEN I WILL JUMP INTO THE SEA!" Sara threatened and took a step closer to the edge."There- - are plently of sharks willing to eat me!"

"Fine. Jump," Sanji cheered the woman.

"WHAT?!" Zoro and Sara hissed at the same time. They hadn't expected this to happen and neither of them had expected the answer Sanji gave.

"You are welcome to jump. Do as you wish," Sanji stated.

"But...you will save a woman, right?" Sara inquired.

"No. I won't save a woman if it's you," Sanji said and Sara broke into tears.

"FINE! I WILL DO IT!" Sara said and stepped on the railing, ready to jump.

"Hey Sanji, what trick are you trying to pull...?" Zoro asked quietly but Sanji said no word.

Sara hadn't planned to jump from the start but the sudden emotions she felt made her really sad and ready to do anything to get the blond's attention. She stood there but realised how stupid it was and decided to get back on the deck when she slipped and fell into the sea.

Zoro watched at Sanji, surprised that the man didn't jump after her even though he had just said that he wouldn't. Then he saw how Sanji bit his teeth and glenched his fists together.

"You are really going to let her drown? She is a hammer!" Zoro hissed at the blond, not really understanding what was going in his head. Then the blond stared at Zoro, nodding at him, and then the swordman realised what the blond was thinking." You don't expect me to save her?!"

"Who else is there?" Sanji chuckled." Besides, I think that nothing would annoy her as much as you saving her." Sanji explained and winked at the swordman who grinned slightly before jumping into the water.

...

**Author's note:**

Yay! Sara is angry! I hope this scene didn't come out of nowhere but I wanted to write this! There will be a happy ending in this story even though it might be slightly umbelievable at the moment :P This chapter was a little bit longer than the previous chapters but I didn't want to end this scene stupidly :)

And I bet that some of you are thinking that "Sanji can't be so rude towards a lady" but chill out, I have a plan ;)


	27. Love Game

27th chapter! I hope the scene in the previous chapter fit into the story :) Please review, favorite and follow or send pm to support my work and cheer me on! :)

...

Zoro had to jump after Sara and save her from the water. Well, how could he let Sanji suffer because of what he didn't do? He knew how much it must have hurt the blond to let Sara fall but he was also somehow praised that the chef trusted him enough to let him save a woman in need.

Everyone had rushed on the deck when hearing the splash of water. Most of them thought that Luffy had done something stupid again but then they found out it was Sara who had fallen into the sea.

"You guys, what happened here?" Usopp inquired when Zoro lifted Sara back on the deck. The woman was coughing hard but she hadn't breathed lots of water into her respiratory system.

Sanji didn't know how to explain the events but Zoro had a simple answer ready. "She slipped off the deck."

_Well, he doesn't exactly lie about it...she slipped...they don't need to know the details!_

"Really? You are as glumsy as Brook!" Luffy laughed before Nami punched him.

"Usually it's you falling off the deck!" Nami cursed and sighed deeply."Are you okay, Sara-san?"

"I am fine, but..." Sara staggered and was about to say something when Sanji bent close to her ear.

"You want to play fair game?" Sanji whispered."Then play one. They are not going to despise us, they are going to despise you from despising us."

Sara felt like Sanji was against her but then the gentleman smiled at her and offered his right hand with the healthy shoulder. "Are you alright, Sara-chan?" he asked as gently as usual. It was as if his personality had changed.

"I am fine, thank you," Sara thanked and took the offered hand to stand up. Sanji blushed when he finally realised that the woman's clothes were soaking wet. "DON'T LOOK, YOU PERVERT!" Sara shouted and punched the man slightly.

"Idiot," Zoro grumbled but managed a small smile.

"Maybe you would like to have some dry clothes?" Robin suggested, chuckling slightly.

...

When the scene was over and everyone returned back to what they were doing, Sanji went into the kitchen. He knew fully well he was not allowed to cook but the atmosphere there calmed him down.

Sanji leaned into the wall and let his back slide against the wall until he was sitting on the floor. He grabbed his hair and pulled slightly, cursing under his breath.

_I can't believe it...I was rude towards a woman! _

Sanji had struggled and was still struggling against himself. He knew he should have saved Sara and he knew that he should apologice his behaviour. Then again, he realised it wouldn't be wise in that situation.

_That Sara...I know how horrible she must be feeling at the moment but I can't do as she wishes! Even though I shouldn't turn down a lady..._

Then Zoro stepped into the kitchen, apparently looking for their chef. He gazed around the room and was about to leave when he saw the blond curled up against the wall. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Shut up, Moss-head," Sanji hissed.

"Is it about that woman?" Zoro asked straightly and when he saw a nod, he approached the man who looked rather pathetic. "Tell me what's in your head."

"I know you are not really good at listening people so why bother?" Sanji sighed.

"Just spit it out,"Zoro insisted and Sanji gave up. Well, as if he had any reason to hide his feelings from the green-haired man.

"It's just that..." Sanji hesitated for a while."I am used to treating ladies gently and doing everything I can to keep them save. I just broke my own rule."

Zoro could see that the blond had difficulties in believing what he had done earlier. "Then why didn't you do what you were used to do."

"Idiot. If I saved her in that situation, she would probably believe that I chose her over you," Sanji explained."Besides, I knew I could trust you enough to save her even though I didn't."

"Your request hurt my pride," Zoro hissed. "But the look on her face when she realised it was me and not you...it was worth it." Zoro laughed slightly.

"I bet it was," Sanji chuckled but then he fell silent for a while." It was really hard..."

"What?"

"The whole situation. I couldn't treat her like usual and she wasn't the calm lady I knew. Normal logic didn't work! I couldn't be myself, the gentleman and all-the-ladies-man!" Sanji cursed.

"Your kind of pervert calling himself a gentleman?" Zoro chuckled."Well, I can see your point." Zoro sat on the floor next to the blond and sighed deeply. There was a comfortable silence in the kitchen and all they could hear were their breaths. "But you did the right thing."

"Somehow it doesn't feel like it," Sanji admitted but smiled slightly at the idea that he had chosen one Marimo over such a beauty!

...

Sara enjoyed the warm bath to its fullest. Chopper had insisted her of taking one because of the cold water: she was a young,fragile girl after all. Sara had wondered why the idiotic swordman didn't need to take a shower but everyone had just sighed deeply and said "because he is an idiot." It didn't make any sense to her.

She laid in the warm steam had covered the windows. She sighed deeply and let her muscles relax.

She couldn't believe what she had heard. Had Sanji really kissed the idiotic swordman? Did they have some sort of gay relationship? According to what she had heard, they were rivals and couldn't stand each other. It seemed somehow absurd that they would have a relationship. Unless it was only a trick to make her give up on the blond. She wasn't going to do so.

At her point of view, Zoro was her rival from now on - rival in love. She should try harder to flirt with the chef and not let him fall into the hands of the certain idiot. They weren't cute couple, after all. She thought that she and Sanji were a perfect match and therefore they were meant for each other.

Sara smirked by herself: the game had just begun.

...

**Author's note:**

I hope this chapter somehow explained Sanji's rude behavior :D I don't want him to be too out of character, after all! :D I wanted him to be strong enough to be rude but then he has to be a gentleman so he has to regret what he did even though he realises he did the right thing :D And good boy, Sanji, choosing Zoro ;) Zoro is way hotter! :3

And I will admit it, my Beta hasn't done her work for a while :D She has read all the chapters and fixed some biggest mistakes which sticked out for her but that's all :D I try to do the rest by myself :_D


	28. Trying to trigger a fight? LUFFY!

28th chapter! :D I am starting to suspect there will be around 40 chapters in this fanfic :_D My original plan was to have around 20 chapters but I guess it failed when I got carried away with writing? :P But I guess you don't mind, do you?

...

At first Sara tried to avoid the swordman and the blond as well as possible but then she realised she couldn't go on like this: she had to charm the chef and annoy her rival as much as she could. She thought that she stood a chance against the green-haired man and she wasn't going to give up just because they might have some sort of relationship: if they had one, she could just break it.

"Sanji-san!" Sara greeted the man with her usual, bright smile. "How are you feeling?"

"I am so happy to hear you worrying over me! I am not worthly of your worry, my dear Sara-chan!" Sanji swooned. "I am fine but I am not allowed to cook which annoys me pretty much!"

"Then who is cooking?" Sara wondered. She had heard some noises coming from the kitchen.

"I guess Usopp and Brook are trying to come up with something..." Sanji sighed."I hope they will take good care of my kitchen..."

"Then what are you going to do?" Sara inquired.

"Nothing special, I guess?" Sanji chuckled. He knew what was coming next.

"Then would you spend some time with me?" Sara asked, blushing and smiling.

"It would be my pleasure!" Sanji swooned. He couldn't turn Sara down just by some stupid reason, after all. Besides, the stupid swordman was training so he had nothing else to do.

_Besides, she is just a teenage girl...she has no real chances even though she is a lady indeed! But let's give her a chance at least! Even though I have already made my choice..._

...

Chopper saw how Sara behaved around their chef and soon diagnosed her with love-sickness. Their chef was just a normal gentleman and a pervert. He couldn't miss the looks Sara was giving to the blond and all the slight flirting between them. Also the slight blushing when close to the one you fancied was a clear sign.

Usopp couldn't miss the new atmosphere on the ship too. Usopp was actually pretty sharp and he could soon notice that something was definitely going on: Sara was flirting with their chef, Sanji wasn't resbonding to it so eagerly and Zoro was staring at them all the time, sharing looks with the blond. He guessed that it had something to do with the fight the previous day but he couldn't bring up the courage to ask anything.

Brook was old and he had seen lots so he had also some sort of hunch of what was going on. He was almost certain that their chef and swordman must have some sort of relationship but he said nothing.

Robin was the one who was most aware of their relationship. She had peeked a lot and she was pretty much aware of the situation. She guessed that their navigator suspected something because of her constant chuckling but she didn't bother to explain herself.

...

"Hey, everyone!" Luffy shouted."It's meal time!"

"Why in the heavens is he shouting that?!" Nami wondered."Everyone knows that he would like to eat everything by himself!"

"Even though Luffy is a selfish bastard it doesn't mean he doesn't care about his crew!" Sanji hissed and threw out his smoke.

"That's right. Captain-san would never let us suffer just because of his stomach," Robin chuckled.

"But have you realised how much he eats? We are loosing money big time!" Nami cursed. "We can't avoid almost anything else but his food!"

"That doesn't count your shopping money, does it?" Zoro grinned but when Nami stared at him he decided to stay quiet. Women were scary.

"Shouldn't we hurry before captain-san eats our food?" Robin suggested and everyone understood her point.

...

"If Sanji can't cut his food then Zoro could do it!" Luffy suggested. Everyone in the kitchen blinked.

"EH?!" Even Zoro and Sanji stared at their captain with disbelief. It was a fact that Sanji's other hand shouldn't be used so he could only use fork so he couldn't exactly cut his food into smaller pieces. What they couldn't understand was why their captain suggested it.

"Why Zoro?" Usopp wondered.

"Because he is used to cutting things. It's simple!" Luffy explained and grinned widely.

"Hey Luffy! Slicing meat and using swords are two different things!" Zoro preached.

"So you are not refusing?" Robin chuckled in a way which caused shivers run trough the swordman's spine - in fact, shivers which told him that the woman knew something she shouldn't.

Sanji smiled slightly before changing to his usual fight-tone."Tsk, as if I would let one brainless creature slice my food!"

"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO FIGHT?!" Chopper interrupted their fight. "I will do it as his doctor!"

"Chopper, you are no fun!" Luffy whined.

"DID YOU EXPECT THEM TO FIGHT?!" Nami hit the idiotic captain.

"But Nami! Fights are lots of fun!" Luffy smiled foolishly.

"That's not good enough a reason to let them destroy our ship! They can fight somewhere else if they want to!" Franky complained and Nami nodded.

"Yohohoho! Franky-san and Nami-san are as harsh as usual!" Brook laughed.

"SHUT UP, YOU PERVERTED SKELETON!" Nami and Franky joined their forces.

"HELP ME, THEY ARE GOING TO KILL ME!" Brook begged for mercy."Ah, even though I am already dead! Yohohoho!"

...

Nami informed everyone that they would reach the next island inside few days. It was only a matter of time before they could see it in the horizon. It was good news to everyone else expect Sara who wanted to spend more time with the chef. She didn't really care about the other members on board as long as she could make memories with Sanji.

Every member or the Strawhat crew were really pumped up by the news.

Luffy could eat as much as possible at some fancy buffet restaurant. Nami could buy some more paper for her maps and shop more clothes than she needed. Chopper could buy new herbs and medicines and if lucky, some new book about medicines. Usopp could look for a little bit this and a little bit that for his weapons likelywise as Franky, who would also buy lots of Cola so that they wouldn't run out of it before the next island.

Zoro was a poor swordman with huge dept so he could affort nothing. Sanji would fill in their food supplies the best he could and look for new kitchen equipment. Robin would look around the city and pick up information about history and buy few books. Brook would probably assist other members with their shoppings which usually meant helping Sanji with grocery shopping.

...


	29. Dessert for hungry Marimo

Chapter 29, yahhoo! :D So they are finally getting closer to the next island and dump Sara, yeah? :D Well, with Luffy it's pretty sure that they are gonna attract attention :_D Poor crew, they have lots to handle!

Sara: Why can't you understand that me and Sanji are perfect match?!

Oneechan94: You clearly have no idea of how well Zoro and Sanji suit each other ~

Sara: But you are creating this story! Change the plot from Zoro x Sanji to Sara x Sanji!

Oneechan94: But I love yaoi! I can't do such a thing :3

Sara: Wha-Wha-WHAT!? YAOI?! YOU ARE GONNA MAKE THEM DO THAT STUFF TOGETHER?!

Oneechan94: Just think about it! Let your imagination run wild!

Sara: Wha - *blushes deeply*

Oneechan94: Nice, isn't it?

Sara: NO WAY!

Oneechan94: But you are blushing ^^

Sara:...shut up, will you?...

...

"Energic as always, captain-san?" Robin chuckled at the man who was jumping on top of crow's nest to see the island sooner.

"It's exiting! A new adventure!" Luffy cheered and bounced around like a rabbit.

"But how do you know if this adventure will be our last?" Robin suggested and Luffy sticked out his tongue at her.

"No way, you idiot!" Luffy mocked their archeologist but was soon sent flying towards the deck.

"DON'T INSULT OUR BEAUTIFUL ROBIN-SWAN LIKE THAT!" Sanji preached at their captain.

"You don't need to worry so much, Cook-san," Robin reassured with a smile."I can give our captain a lesson too if needed!"

"I am sure you can punish this idiot likelywise as any other member on board, Robin-swan!" Sanji swooned while his mind was throwing dirty images of different kinds of punishments. Then shivers ran trough his spine and he slowly turned to face their archeologist."I was joking, Robin-swan!"

"It wasn't even close a joke, Cook-san," Robin said in a creepy tone.

"It was a bad joke!" Usopp suddenly shouted from behind Robin.

"It was a bad joke!" Chopper repeated from behind Usopp.

"You guys..." Sanji tried to stay calm."Do you want to get your guts spilled?" He asked perfectly calmly but there was a darker meaning behind his words.

"Sanji is scary!" Chopper panicked and tried to hide behind Usopp's back.

"Oi joi, Sanji-kun, why are you raising your leg like that?!" Usopp shouted in panic when he saw the familiar fight-gesture the chef was taking."Please put it down before someone is gonna get hurt!"

"Eh? Who is going to get hurt?" Sanji asked stupidly.

"Eh...probably me?" Usopp suggested and the chef attacked the long-nosed man without mercy.

...

The weather was calm for landing on the next island. They could not see the island yet but everyone knew they would reach the island during the day.

"So, Sara-san, can you tell us anything about your home island?" Nami inquired. Every piece of information could save their lives.

"Well, it has been around six years since I left the island so anything could have changed..." Sara sighed. She had started to look forward to seeing her home after a long time. "I can only remember that it was a calm island, people didn't care if it was marines or pirates running ashore as far as they got customers who wouldn't wreck the city."

"Did they have a marine base in there?" Robin asked some details.

"I don't think so..." Sara answered."But they had some sort of organization which took care of pirates who didn't behave..."

"Organization?" Zoro raised a brow. "What was the island called again?"

"Nekuru's island,"Sara answered.

"Something on your mind, kenshi-san?" Robin inquired.

"The island sounds somehow familiar but I can't quite place it..." Zoro admitted.

"Maybe it has got something to do with your past?" Nami suggested.

"Probably, because otherwise we would have probably heard about it too," Robin explained.

"Nekuru's island, you said?" Franky interrupted,"Sounds suupeer familiar!"

"You know something?" Nami asked seriously.

"There is an organization for pirate hunters in the town but it's said that they wouldn't attack unless given a reason. So as long as we don't cause havoc in there we should be fine," Franky remembered.

"An organization of pirate hunters who don't hunt all the pirates? Somehow fishy..." Zoro hissed by himself.

"But isn't it good for us? If nobody causes trouble, we should be fine!" Franky reasoned.

"Yes, IF nobody causes trouble..." Nami sighed and turned to look at their captain.

"Yes, there is a certain someone who is bount to cause trouble for us..." Robin added, chuckling slighty.

"That's sure..." Franky joined.

"Well, if Luffy causes trouble and they come after us, we just need to beat them, right?" Zoro grinned widely. Somehow they suspected that the swordman would cause trouble on purpose to get a fight.

"WE ARE NOT GOING TO CAUSE TROUBLE, IS THAT CLEAR?!" Nami ordered and the swordman's grin faded away.

...

"I SEE AN ISLAND!" Luffy shouted happily and jumped down on the deck to run around like a maniac.

"Calm down, Luffy!" Usopp almost begged for their captain."We don't want you to fall of the deck before landing so be a good boy and sit down!"

"Aye Aye, Usopp!" Luffy grinned and sat on top of Lion's head.

Nami raised a thumb at Usopp who had managed to calm their captain down with a single, well-picked line. "Really, that idiot..."she sighed by herself at their restless captain.

"Nami-san!" Sanji swooned after their navigator."Some strawberry parfait for you, my lady."

"Thank you, Sanji-kun!"

Sanji took similar parfaits to Robin and Sara also before he went back to the kitchen. Chopper had allowed him to do something simple and he had decided to delight the ladies on board.

When he stepped into the kitchen, somebody closed the door behind him. "Is there any dessert for me?" he heard the familiar, low voice.

"Sorry, Baka-Marimo, dessert is only for ladies," Sanji hissed and put the tray away.

"That's not what I meant..." Zoro murmured and closed the distance between them with one, long step. He kissed the blond quickly before pulling away."Besides, I don't even like sweet things..."

"Then what's your preference?" Sanji wondered.

"Well that's - - " Zoro was about to say something but then he noticed one, annoying woman standing on the doorway.

"Don't mind me, I just came to drop this cup. It was delicious as always, Cook-san," Robin chuckled and excused herself from the kitchen. Zoro and Sanji had had their hands around each other' waists and Robin was clever enough to figure out what it meant.

"You..." Sanji said quietly, almost whispering.

"What? Somebody stole your ability to speak?" Zoro mocked.

"...IDIOTIC MOSS-HEAD!" Sanji shouted and kicked the idiot ouf the kitchen. He hadn't wanted to get caught like that, especially by Robin...it was one, humiliating situation and Robin would surely remind them about the scene many times!

...

**Author's note:**

Yes, of course Robin would "accidently" see them together first ;) Way to go, Robin-chan! :D


	30. Hungry Marimo getting his dessert

Chapter 30! :D Don't mind my habit of repeating the chapter's number, okay? :D

...

Now it was Sanji's turn to avoid some people, in this case Zoro and Robin, as well as he could. He was angry with Zoro when the man hadn't made sure nobody could see them and he was embarrased for Robin who had to witness something like that. Well, the woman didn't seem shocked at all but he was still embarrased for her.

So everytime Zoro tried to get closer to Sanji, he got "something important to do" and he rushed off. Nobody knew what he had to do.

They had run ashore on the island. Sun was already disappearing below the horizon and the city lights were lighting up.

"So...which ones of us are going on the island? Few of us needs to stay to guard the ship," Nami started the conversation when they had arrived on the island. All of the Strawhats and Sara had gathered on the deck. "Zoro stays on the ship, that's for sure!" Everyone expect the swordman nodded.

"OI!" Zoro whined. He didn't like how everyone had the habbit to decide for him.

"We don't want to look for one lost Marimo all around the island!" Sanji mocked.

"I want to eat lots!" Luffy shouted and it was pretty clear that he would spend the evening in some fancy restaurant and it to his heart content.

"Me too!" Chopper and Brook joined the choir.

"My stomach is empy! Even thought I don't have a stomach! Yohohoho!"

"Really, these idiots..." Nami sighed."Fine,Luffy! If you can find a restaurant with "all you can eat"-offer then please go and eat! But you have no rights to complain until we reach the next island, is that clear?!" Nami ordered.

"Yahhoo!" Luffy cheered."LET'S GO!" And so the hungry trio was off.

"How about you, Sara-san?" Nami pointed her guestion at the young woman.

"I...don't know. I could spend the night with you because I can't remember my home's exact location...There should be plently of time to ask around tomorrow!" Sara suggested and the navigator nodded.

"I want to get some cola immediately! I have been out of fuel for a long time!" Franky cursed.

"How about Sanji-kun?" Nami asked.

"Well, I bet that grocery stores are already closed so I have to wait until tomorrow..." Sanji sighed.

"Then would you - - " Nami was about to suggest that he would babysit Luffy, Chopper and Brook but Robin interrupted her.

"Why not let Cook-san stay on the ship with Zoro?" Robin suggested.

"Eh?!" Nami cried out."But you know what happens when you leave the two of them alone on the ship! There will be nothing left of our Sunny-Go! They simply don't get along!"

"But earlier today they got along pretty well," Robin chuckled, referring to the moment when she had interrupted the new couple from cuddling. Sanji blushed deeply at the thought.

Nami couldn't understand what the archeologist was talking about but didn't refuse the suggestion. "Okay, then Usopp, how about..."

"Yosh! You can leave it to me!" Usopp vowed even before he heard the rest of the sentence.

"Thanks, Usopp! I knew I could trust you! I can leave Luffy, Chopper and Brook in your hands then!" Nami smiled so brightly that the sniper didn't dare to refuse.

"I could stay on the ship!" Sara suggested suddenly. "If those two don't get along..." Well, Sara didn't want the two of them to have some time together,that's all.

"Would you come with us, Guest-san?" Robin asked."We could have a girl's night out."

"That's our Robin!" Nami cheered."We spend most of our time with these idiots so it would be nice to spend time with girls!"

Sara didn't know what to do. Of course she liked the idea too but she didn't want to leave Sanji alone with the swordman. Well, not before Robin bent over her and whispered to her ear. " You don't want to hear them, trust me."

...

Zoro and Sanji were utterly stunned to notice that it was just the two of them on the ship. No Luffy begging for extra-snack, no Usopp fooling around and Chopper fussing around. No women to be swooned after, not one cyborg doing his hentai-poses, not one musician playing music a little bit too loud. It was just the two of them on the ship. And what better, the others would sleep in a motel of some sort of. It was almost tpp quiet.

"Well, if the other's went to eat something, I could cook something for us too. There is enough supplies to prepare a meal for two," Sanji broke the silence and went towards the kitchen. Zoro said nothing but the chef knew he had heard.

Sanji thought really carefully of what to prepare. He didn't want to do something usual, he wanted to do something fancy enough to work as an apology of some sort of. He had kicked the idiot out of the kitchen pretty hard and he felt a little bit quilty about it. Well, he knew that the idiot wouldn't die to a weak kick like that but he wasn't happy about it either.

...

"Are you sure those two are going to be alright?" Nami wondered.

Robin chuckled slightly before answering. "Well, they got along earlier so why wouldn't they get along now too?"

"By 'getting along' do you possibly mean...?" Sara didn't have the courage to finish her sentence.

"So you know about them too?" Robin inquired and Sara nodded.

"Unfortunately yes..."

"Would someone tell me what's going on?" Nami asked. She felt like an outsider. Robin got a little closer to the navigator only to whisper something to her ear quickly. "EH?! YOU HAVE TO BE JOKING,ROBIN!"

...

It was finally time to tell Zoro the meal was ready. Sanji didn't bother to light some candles because he doubted that the swordman would appreciate it. He had some fancy wine glasses, however, and lots of different kinds of foods to eat.

"What is it? Luxury or something?" Zoro asked in disbelief.

"Don't be so picky about it. I made something just for the two of us so don't complain!" Sanji hissed and sat down likelywise as the swordman.

Zoro took one of the wine glasses to his hand. "Did you have some red wine for us?" he grinned.

"No. It's not red wine," Sanji sighed and pouring something strong to the wine glasses.

"Sake," Zoro smirked and took the sip.

"Of course it is, Marimo!" Sanji gasped."Did you really expect I would waste red wine on someone like you?!"

"I would waste some red wine on you, Curly," Zoro teased and saw Sanji blushing but said nothing. "So what's on the menu?"

"You have to try, I am not going to spoil surprise," Sanji smiled slightly and they started to taste test a little bit of everything.

"Well, this was beyond my expectations..." Zoro chuckled suddenly.

"You don't like it, Moss-head?"

"No, the opposite. Where did you learn to cook like this?" Zoro asked and saw how the blond blushed a really deep shade of red.

"I will...tell you some other time..." Sanji gulped and Zoro nodded. it didn't seem like a subject the cook was willing to talk about at the moment. "By the way, how about a small warm-up after the meal?"

"Eh?" Zoro voiced out but when he realised what the chef was asking, he grinned. "My pleasure."

...

The warm-up started with a few kicks and few blows of sword. Sanji was really happy to fight after a long time since their doctor had prohibitet him from fighting at all. There was a small smirk on both of their faces.

"Your kicks surely have improved, Mr Nosebleed," Zoro praised Sanji in the middle of the fight.

"Yours swordmanskills have definitely developed too!" Sanji returned the praise. It was odd how they could praise each other like that and not in the mocking tone.

At some point of the fight, they moved to balance on the railing. They fought seriously, trying to overpower the other: they both knew that the other could handle their strongest movements. Sanji jumped into air suddenly and stood there calmly, watching at the annoyed swordman while he tried to catch his breath.

"Hey, idiot!" Zoro insulted." Get back down here!"

"No way!" Sanji refused but recognised the familiar, evil look on Zoro's face.

"Well, I have no choice..." he chuckled by himself like a devil."If you won't come to me, I have to come to you!"

Then he jumped high, managing to grab Sanji's left leg. The blond wasn't prepared for a sudden attack and he couldn't keep his footing in the air so they both ended up falling into the sea.

"YOU IDIOT!" Sanji shouted at the stronger man. "Now we are soaking wet! And it's cold!"

"What? Scared of water, Ero-cook?" Zoro grinned widely.

"As if!" Sanji hissed.

Zoro swallowed hard after realising the sight in front of him. Sanji's white collar shirt was stuck to his torso, revealing every part of his upper body. His hair was a mess and his skin was glistering with sweat and water.

"Ah!" Sanji suddenly cried out, starting to unbutton his shirt.

"What is it, Curly?" Zoro asked, swallowing again when there was more and more of the bare skin visible.

"There is some lost fish in my shirt!" Sanji cursed but he was actually laughing at the situation. He took the green fish out of his shirt."Are you relatives or something? Green and ability of getting lost?" Sanji mocked.

The fish slipped from his hold to freedom when Zoro pressed their lips firmly together. He was pressing his body against the blond's so that even though the cold water, they could feel the heat radiating from each other's bodies. The swordman was pressing his tongue inside Sanji's mouth, exploring it fully. The kiss was actually rather...heated up.

"Hey Zoro!" Sanji hissed when the kiss finally ended. "What are you doing?"

"-sert..." Zoro staggered but Sanji couldn't make clear of what he was saying. Zoro had started to nib his ear and place small kisses on his neck.

"What did you say, Marimo?!" Sanji tried to get the swordman's attention.

"Dessert," Zoro spelled out clearly this time, staring at the chef's eyes. Sanji blushed deeply when he realised what Zoro meant.

"What? You are still angry from not receiving one back then?" Sanji inquired.

" . .Dessert," Zoro spelled out slowly and kissed Sanji gently.

Sanji didn't know what to do. Well, he couldn't say that he didn't want this to happen but he didn't know how to express it properly.

"Can I eat?" Zoro asked, grinning like an idiot.

Sanji stared at Zoro, not being able to resist the man in front of him. "Tsk, do as you wish!" Zoro grinned at him and started to grope him slightly before Sanji yelped."But before that... should we get out of the water and out of these wet clothes?!"

...

**Author's note:**

Finally, I say, finally, there will be some hot stuff! :D But you have to wait until next chapter :P


	31. Instructions to the lost Marimo

31th chapter! It took so many chapters for me to get into yaoi-mood! :D Hope all the yaoi-lovers enjoy! :P There is almost a whole chapter worth of hot stuff! :3 It will take few days before I update again because I am going for a trip and I am not sure if I can use internet with my computer over there but I hope these two chapters are worth the wait! :P

...

Zoro and Sanji headed toward the boys bedroom, stumbling on their way there. Zoro was a stubborn bastard who didn't care if they had sex under the stars or in the boys bedroom but Sanji cared. Zoro was kissing him all the way until they reached the boys bedroom and bedroom, pealing off his clothes at the same time.

Zoro landed Sanji surprisingly gently on his bed and grawled on top of him. He kissed him quickly before lowering the kisses from his lips to his ears, from his ears to his neck, from his neck to his collarbone. He could feel the blond tensing under his touch and shivering slightly but he didn't mention it. Then he placed a kiss on Sanji's lips again but Sanji pulled away quickly.

"Oi Marimo! You don't need to think of me as some fragile woman!" Sanji noted and Zoro grinned, pinching the blond's already erect nipple and feeling how the man sucked in a breath.

"Then I won't be so gentle with you...if you like a little pain, Mr Masocist..." Zoro murmured to Sanji's ear.

"When did I say I was a masocist?! I was just - - " Sanji was about to continue his argumentation but he was forced to shut down when Zoro suddenly lowered his lips to suck his nipple. The blond bucked his back slightly, to the swordman's amusement. His breathing was almost short pants but he didn't make a voice.

"You talk too much!" Zoro hissed and bit down on the nipple slightly: just enough to let the blond feel it but not enough for it to hurt.

"...You too,Marimo..." Sanji gasped between his breaths. A slight blush covered his face but he hadn't lost the game. At least not yet.

Sanji bit Zoro's neck suddenly, causing a gasp escape the other man's mouth. "Payback," Sanji smirked before Zoro suddenly pushed his hand inside his trousers and squeesed his other buttock hard. "Ah!" Sanji cried out but covered his mouth as soon as he realised that he had actually cried out aloud. The swordman tensed and blushed immediately after hearing the delicious sound.

"Don't cover your mouth. I want to hear you," Zoro insisted but Sanji shoke his head. "Then it's a high time to put your tie into a good use."

Sanji didn't have time to react when Zoro grabbed his hands and removed his tie. "Oi, you can't possibly mean..." Sanji gasped in disbelief but he wasn't really going to run away.

Zoro bound his hands on the hammocks rope and hoped that the idiot would move around too much so that they would fall on the floor. "Stop struggling, you idiot! You will hurt your hands!"

Sanji stopped struggling and stared at Zoro. The man had probably thought that it wasn't such a good idea to tie Sanji up like this but the encouraging smirk Sanji gave to him was enough to reassure him. "So you were a masocist after all..." Zoro chuckled and placed small kisses on Sanji's abs.

"You - - too- - " Sanji staggered, trying to concentrate on his breathing.

Zoro removed Sanji's clothes with a single movement. Then he realised that Sanji was staring at his clothes."What? Should I remove mine too?" Zoro grinned at his own guestion.

"Of course! It isn't fair! It's humiliating to - - !" Sanji hissed but was yet again interrupted by Zoro who had started to lower his hand from his nipples to his crotch in a teasing way: he almost touched his manhood, just almost.

"Just - - take of those shitty clothes - - and stop - - teasing- -!" Sanji ordered and Zoro complied the order with pleasure. He removed his clothes quickly and pressed their manhood's together, surprising the blond. "Ah..." he let out a low moan but so did Zoro.

Zoro moved so that their manhood's rubbed against each other, causing more and more moans and groans escape the chef's mouth. They had both grown hard but they were not even near their limits yet.

Zoro pulled a little bit further from Sanji only to play with his balls for a while. He fondled them gently while stroking the chef's member.

"Ah - - Zoro - - shit - - " Sanji cursed under his breath and Zoro smirked at the sight of the blond beneath him. His body was trembling violently and Zoro guessed that it would be a high time to process a little further so he pressed his finger gently against the chef's entrance, giving the chef some time to realise what was happening and adjust to the new feeling.

"Idiot - - " Sanji scuffed. "I told you - - already - - I am not some - - woman!"

Zoro took it as a sign to push his finger inside slowly so that Sanji would get used to the feeling of having something in there. The chef seemed to do fine, so Zoro quickly pushed another finger inside when he felt the muscles relaxing.

"Ah!" Sanji moaned and threw his head back.

"Does it hurt?" Zoro inquired but when Sanji shoke his head strongly he realised he must have hit that puddle of nerves in his body.

Zoro tried to repeat the earlier movement, trying to locate the prostate. "Difficulties - - little - - lost marimo?" Sanji teased, trying to keep his breathing under control.

"Just - - wait a little - - !" Zoro answered slowly. His breathing was also getting out of hand.

"Do - - you need some - - Ah!" Sanji tried to ask if the man needed some instructions but then the man found what he was looking for.

Zoro grinned widely, pressing on that special spot in the chef's body. Sanji was a total mess at that point already, and he had lost his own game. "Just - - Ah - - do - - it - - Ah!" Sanji ordered and Zoro was happy to follow his orders for once.

Zoro pressed his manhood slowly trough the tight ring of muscles. Sanji trembled a lot but he wasn't showing any signs of pain so he proceeded further. Sanji's inner muscles were squeesing his member hard but it was still enjoyable.

Soon Zoro was fully sheathed inside Sanji. "Are you okay?" he inquired, wanting to make sure that the blond was fine before starting to move.

"Just - - wait a little - - marimo - - " Sanji gasped and Zoro waited until he saw a small nod.

First movements were slow but he was slowly picking up more pace. Sanji tried to grit his teeth together at start but then he realised holding it down was no use and he started to moan wildly, cluching his fists hard.

Zoro started to trust in harder and harder until he felt Sanji tensing beneath him, curving his back strongly and coming onto his stomach. The blond was breathing hard and feeling pretty exhausted at that point. The swordman followed soon after, coming inside his new partner.

They laid there, panting hard in the silence for a few minutes.

"Oi Curly, you alright?" Zoro asked and Sanji held back laughter.

"What do you think? Of course I am!" Sanji hissed and took out a cigarette. "But I need a shower."

"Want to go together?" Zoro suggested with a grin but got his answer when Sanji hit him with a pillow.

"You pervert! Don't think you can do everything you want immediately!" he explained, blushing and smiling slightly at the though, however.

...

**Author's note:**

Here you go! One chapter full of yaoi! :D Are you pleased after your long wait? =^.^= I don't know if I a good at writing this hot stuff...?


	32. Escort

Chapter 32! I hope you were pleased with the scene in the previous chapter :P And I would like to receive comments about my work so please review :3

...

Sanji woke up, feeling Zoro's hands around him. Zoro's warm stomach was against his bare back. He turned to look if the swordman was awake yet, but the loud snoring made the message clear to him.

"Hey, Zoro, I need to prepare breakfast. Other's will probably come back here soon," Sanji explained to the sleeping form of the swordman but the man didn't loosen his hold around the chef's waist. He couldn't bring himself to wake the deep-sleeper so he decided to wait for a while longer.

_Well, breakfast can wait...I rarely get a chance to sleep with Zoro like this... I get to prepare breakfast everyday!_

_..._

Others had had a busy night. Usopp had had to babysit their crew's captain, doctor and musician - at least their musician should be old enough to take care of himself! The three of them had eaten way too much and Usopp had had to literally drag them to the motel. Luckily he had trained a lot during those past two years of separation but so their captain's apppetite had grown.

Nami, Robin and Sara had looked for a closest bar and they had sat there until the late night. Nami had drank a lot but she wasn't even drunk, not even the slightlest. Robin had enjoyed only a glass of martini and Sara had taken a glass of apple juice since she wasn't too used to drink. They had chatted a long time and also trying to gather some information.

After the night at the motel, they returned back to the ship. They could smell the delicious smell of Sanji's cookings even before they saw their ship.

"Oi, Sanji-kun!" Nami shouted to inform that they had returned.

"Nami-san! Robin-swan! Sara-chan!" Sanji swooned while rushing out of the kitchen to greet the ladies. "Did you enjoy your night out?"

"It was the best!" Nami praised."Nothing wins spending time with girls!"

"Did you enjoy your time with kenshi-san?" Robin chuckled and Sanji blushed deeply. "Apparently you did."

Sara got depressed after seeing Sanji's reaction to the archeologist's guestion. She had though that she still had a chance but it seemed like she was loosing the game this time.

"Ah, that's right!" Sanji suddenly gasped."Sara-chan, are you going to look for your mother?"

"I think that was the plan!" she tried to smile like usual but she couldn't do that at the moment.

"I could escort you on your way back! You don't need to go alone!" Sanji suggested and Sara agreed immediately. Maybe she still had a chance. "But please, breakfast is served, don't wait until our captain arrives here!" Sanji adviced and the women stepped into the kitchen just before they heard a loud shout from somewhere: "SANJI! BREAKFAST!"

...

Sara was really happy to look for her mother with Sanji. She could show her mother how fine man she had found, not like she was going to marry him but still.

She couldn't remember her mother's adress but she remembered a place where she used to spend time a lot. She had played around at her mothers acquaintances restaurant with his son. She had seen the restaurant last night when they had looked for a place to sleep so she remembered it clearly.

The restaurant was already open so they stepped in. Sara saw the familiar restaurant owner behind the desk, rubbing his head. "Werner-san?" she called out quietly but the man lifted his head immediately.

"Is that - - " he staggered, stepping closer to Sara,"you, Sara?!"

"Yup! That's me!" Sara smiled happily, staring at the man. He hadn't changed at all.

"Oh, you just wait until my son hears about this! Have you seen your mother yet? What have you been up to all these years?!" The man called Werner i inquired.

"No, I came to ask you for her adress. I can't remember it!" Sara explained herself."I will tell you everything a little later, I want to see my mum first!"

"That's fine! I can't wait to hear the whole story!" Werner smiled brightly before turning his attention to the blond man standing next to Sara. "And who might you be?"

"Ah, my bad!" Sanji chuckled."I am Sanji, I am a part of pirate crew who saved Sara-chan and brough her back here."

Werner blinked slightly before he recognised the man in front of him."Could you be Strawhat crew's Blackleg Sanji? Dont' worry, I am not going to arrest you or something!"

"That's me alright," Sanji sighed.

"Thank you for saving Sara! She is like my own daughter to me!" Werner thanked the chef but Sanji shoke his head.

"You should thank our captain, he is the one who allowed Sara to come with us!"

"That's probably right!" Werner laughed."But anyways, you needed Mary's adress? I will write it down immediately!"

"Eh, in first-name terms with my mother, aren't you?" Sara teased. " I told you many years ago that you would be a perfetc match!"

"I wished that you forgot about that already..." Werner sighed and gave them a note with an adress. "Say my regards to your mother!"

"I will, bye!" Sara waved happily.

They found the small house pretty easily. A red house with small garden and white windows was easy to detect. Sara hesitated before reaching for the door and knocked carefully.

"Who is it?" was a woman voice heard from the inside before the door opened. The woman with red,curly hair gasped when she saw her long-lost daughter standing on her doorway. "Sara!" She shouted and hugged the girl, tears flooding from her eyes.

"I am home," Sara whispered to her ear before she started to cry.

The women's hug took a while but Sanji couldn't bring himself to interrupt such a lovely reunion. "And who is this gentleman?" Sara's mother Mary asked.

Sanji took Mary's hand, kissing the back of the hand like a proper gentleman would do. " I am Sanji, I was here to escort your lovely daughter back home."

Sara's mother blushed slightly. It had been a long time since somebody had treated her like a woman should be treated. "Oh my godness!" She gasped. "Would you like to have some tea?" she offered but Sanji had to refuse the offer.

"I should head back to our ship before my captain looses his mind!" Sanji smirked."Besides, I think the two of you have a lots to catch up!"

...

"Eh?! Ero-cook went to escort that woman?!" Zoro staggered back at the ship. He woke up after Sanji had already left with Sara.

"Are you jealous, kenshi-san?" Robin chuckled and Zoro lowered his head to hide the slight blush.

"No way!" Zoro hissed."But he shouldn't lead that woman on any longer!"

"Don't worry, it's just Sanji-kun we are talking about!" Nami said, hitting the swordman's back with her palm. "He will return soon to swoon after me and Robin!"

It was only a while after their conversation when Sanji returned back to the ship. "Nami-san! Robin-swan! How about some dessert?!"

"Sorry, Sanji-kun, but Chopper insisted that you should be out of the kitchen for a while yet so Usopp is trying to make something simple for us to eat! You already did too much when you prepared the breakfast!" Nami preached and Sanji rubbed his neck.

"Sorry about that!" Sanji apologiced."I just forget about my shoulder too easily!"

"Idiot," Zoro grumbled as usual.

"What?! You want to fight again?!" Sanji shouted back at the man but he knew fighting was no option when their doctor had returned to his duty.

...


	33. Mysterious stranger

Chapter 33! :D Reviews would be appreciated and they would cheer me on! :) I still have few chapters to write so I would like to get some motivation! :D

...

"So according to Sara-san's information, the log should set in ten days. So please try and not cause any kind of trouble for us!" Nami informed everyone.

"Okay!" Luffy answered immediately and received a bang to his head.

"USUALLY IT'S YOU WHO CAUSES ALL THE TROUBLE, IDIOT!" Nami, Usopp and Chopper shouted at their captain.

"Eh?!" Luffy cried out, as if he thought that he had never caused any trouble.

"So, we have plenty of time to fill in our food supplies and each of us can look for something of their interest,"Nami explained and Sanji nodded.

"So I can look for medical books?! And talk with local doctors?!" Chopper said happily, almost dancing.

"Yes, Chopper," Nami said and smiled at their doctor.

"Then I could look for books about history and search for information related to poneglyph," Robin chuckled. She was really enjoying the idea.

"Then I could look around for somebody worth my time," Zoro grinned.

"You want to fight someone, Marimo?" Sanji inquired.

"Yeah, somebody stronger than you," Zoro teased.

"You want t test my strenght yet again,Moss-head?" Sanji hissed, tensing the muscles in his legs.

"Bring it on, if you think you are a worthly challenge," Zoro smirked.

"Stop it! And Sanji-kun, you better be a worthly challenge because we don't want Zoro wandering alone on this island!" Nami ordered and everyone expect the swordman nodded, agreeing fully.

"Are you calling me a lost child or doubting if Ero-cook is strong enough to beat me?"

"I am insulting you," Nami stated and Zoro glared at the woman but didn't dare to attack the sea-witch.

"I will look for a Cola-shop!" Franky cheered.

"Are you sure there is a specialized Cola-shop on this island? Can't you just buy it from a normal shop like usual?" Usopp asked, doubting that there would be one.

"Actually I saw one last night," Robin remembered and Usopp blinked at the coincidence.

"Could you show me where it is?" Franky asked nicely and Robin nodded.

"That's fine by me, it's on my way to the bookshop," Robin explained.

...

Strawhats were separated into three groups: Luffy, Nami and Brook would stay on the ship that day, Robin, Franky and Chopper would head towards the bookstore and Cola-store and Usopp had to stick with Zoro and Sanji for grocery shoppings.

"So what do we need?" Zoro asked calmly.

"A little bit of this and a little bit of that," Sanji answered with a slight, mocking tone in his voice.

"Oi joi, where did the usual 'I don't enjoy your company' got lost?" Usopp teased, knowing full-well that something had changed between the two males.

"It got tied up into a shark and explosives and it was sent flying into a volcano*," Sanji suggested cruely.

"You sound like Robin..." Usopp shivered slightly. "Besides, why Zoro had to come too?! He will cause some trouble for us!"

"Has someone in our crew managed not to cause any trouble for us? No," Zoro hissed angrily.

"Well, if you don't want to carry all the shoppings..." Sanji grinned, pointing at his wounded shoulder and Usopp gulped.

"FINE FINE!" Usopp shouted and Sanji chuckled slightly by himself.

"Good boy," Zoro teased and poked the mysteriously long-nose.

...

"I want to go too ~ " the famous Strawhat Luffy whined, crawling on the deck of Sunny-Go.

"Stop your complains already!" Nami ordered and Luffy fell silent. Oh god how much he scared the woman.

"I want to go too ~ " their musician, the famous Soul King complained, copying his captain's behavior.

"And what would a hentai like you do in there?!" Nami wondered. "Asking everyone to show their panties for you?!"

"Not everyone's!" Brook hissed. "I don't like ugly women's and men's panties! You can't understand a way of proper hentai, Nami-san!"

"Hai hai," Nami sighed and looked at the sea. The wind was creating small waves on the surface and the sound of waves hitting the beach was pretty calming. She could enjoy herself if it wasn't for those two idiots she had to listen to.

...

"Franky, the Cola-store is over there!" Chopper cheered and rushed to take a look at the shop window.

"This is a hentai's dream I would say!" Franky raised his sunglasses and grinned slightly. "There is normal Cola, light Cola, different coloured Cola, everything a man could dream of!"

Chopper's eyes sparkled at the speak but Robin just stared at the window. "But you need just normal Cola, right?"

"That's not the point, Nico Robin!" Franky shoke his head. "Just the idea is suupeer!"

"Whatever," Robin said coldly. "Doctor-san, our bookstore is over there!"

"Yup!" Chopper rushed after the woman, sounding utterly happy and the left the hentai alone.

...

Sara had met with her mother Mary. She had been really happy to see her daughter alive and she hoped that she would stay with her. She knew the look her daughter had given to the gentleman pirate and therefore she wished that her daughter wouldn't choose the dangerous life of a pirate.

Sara had decided to go to a nearby cafe to think. She remembered the delicious cakes they sold in there and the coffee was really giving you some new energy. She really needed some space to think calmly, calm herself down to make some clever,grown-up decisions.

She sat down to the furthest table after looking trough the menu. Soon the waitress came to serve her and she ordered some strawberry cake and coffee. The table was small, meant for two people to sit in.

When the waitress brough her coffee and cake, she started to dip her spoon in the coffee, not really thinking of what she was doing.

"Excuse me, but...are you troubled over something?"

Sara raised her head to look at the man in his thirties glaring at her. She must have looked pretty depressed. "I am fine."

"A young lady who looks like that can't be okay," the stranger stated and took the free chair and sat down. To Sara, it looked like the man wanted to listen to her worries.

"I...was in love with someone but it looks like he has got someone else," Sara admitted, trying to keep her face straight. "He was a real gentleman towards me as well as towards every woman he met. He was handsome, gentle and nice guy."

She didn't know why she told the man something like this but the man smiled at him, encouraging her to go on with her story. " Sounds like every woman's knight. What did he look like?"

Sara felt at ease talking with the man so she went on. "He has a blond hair, and small black beard, curly eyebrows and he always wears a suit."

The stranger stared at her. "Why did he choose someone else over someone like you?"

Sara didn't know what to say. "I guess they just...fell in love against all the rules...I still can't believe it but I guess I just have to admit it at some point..."

"Why won't you try to snatch him away?" the stranger suggested with a grin. "Besides, he should learn his lesson about hurting a beautiful, young woman like you, isn't that right?"

Sara nodded slightly, not really sure what she had gotten herself into. But she would try to find out.

...

**Author's note:**

* reference to the movie Despicable Me 2 :P I just though it would sound fun!


	34. Love letter?

Chapter 34! :)

...

Zoro carried the shoppings much to Usopp's astonishment. He didn't even complain about it. Well, of course Usopp was happy that the two members of the monster trio didn't ask him to carry the shoppings - he wasn't the one to fight back such monsters.

Usopp walked behind the two males, stopping at one shop on his way back to the ship. He told Sanji that he would catch them up after he has done his shoppings or meet them at the ship.

He looked around the shop for something specific. The salesperson looked at the weirdly dressed guy with weird nose a little bit weirdly but said nothing. The sniper looked for fertilizers to grow his pop greens properly. It wasn't like growing them was easy.

"Hello, Usopp-san!"

Usopp turned to look at Sara who was smiling brightly. "Sara! I heard you found your mother?" Sara nodded and smiled widely. "That's good to hear!" Usopp said in a friendly way. He saw that the woman had something on her mind. "Something bothering you, Sara?"

"No! I was just wondering if you could pass a message to Sanji-san," Sara stated her business, giving the long-nosed man a piece of paper. Usopp didn't refuse because he saw no reason to do so.

"Leave it to the great Usopp-sama!" Usopp vowed and Sara smiled at the man who had no idea of what she was going to do.

Or what she thought she was going to do.

Usopp bought some good fertilizers and rushed after Zoro and Sanji. He had the feeling that he shouldn't let Zoro know about the message so he waited for his change to give it to Sanji personally. He wondered what the message included but he didn't want to peek at the paper.

"You catched up on us pretty soon," Sanji wondered out aloud when he recognised the long nose of their sniper.

"Didn't they have chicken eggs?" Zoro teased, remembering how their sniper used to buy chicken eggs for fights.

"Ha ha really funny Zoro-kun!" Usopp laughed. "I am way past those games! I am a real hero now!"

"Whatever," Zoro hissed, not really caring what the long-nosed man spoke.

They went back to the ship and Sanji organized the shoppings in the kitchen. When Zoro left to train, Usopp took his chance to slip the message to Sanji. "Hey Sanji, Sara asked me to give you this."

"Eh?" Sanji voiced out. "What business does she have with me? Or is it a love letter ~ ?"

"I don't know, you have to read it by yourself," Usopp stated and left the kitchen.

Sanji opened the letter slowly and read it. He blinked when he finished reading, throwing the note to trashcan and heading towards the adress Sara had given to him.

"Hey! I will go out for a while!" Sanji informed Usopp who nodded. He knew he should not leave the ship without informing someone about his trip. Others would start to worry for no reason if he just disappeared.

...

Zoro trained up in the crow's nest. He was lifting one of his humongous weights yet again, like they were much lighter.

"I should probably buy new, heavier ones," Zoro thought out aloud. "But I already have a huge dept towards that Sea-witch...I am not going to afford new weights for a long time..."

He looked out of the window. He was getting hungry. So he headed towards the kitchen. Or a least he tried.

"Hey Usopp, do you know where Curly is?" Zoro asked from their sniper. Sanji was usually in the kitchen so he didn't need to admit he was lost.

"He is not in the kitchen! He left out for a while! Are you lost?" Usopp explained and teased the green-haired man. He knew full-well he was lost but he didn't want to admit it.

"As if!" Zoro hissed and climbed back up to the crows nest. He was actually heading towards the kitchen but he wandered to his usual training place and stayed there as if he had planned to go threre from the very beginning.

...

"Sanji-san!" Sara waved cheerfully at the blond.

"Sara-chan!" Sanji swooned as usual. "How are you? Why did you want to meet me here?"

Sanji had arrived to the destination. Sara has asked him to meet her at the far corner of the city, telling that she had something to tell to him. Sanji had no idea of what the woman would want to talk about but then again, he thought that she wanted to just talk to him about what had happened and what hadn't happened between the two of them.

"I just wanted to show you one place, that's all!" Sara smiled brightly and took the chef's hand, starting to lead him.

Blackleg Sanji could feel someone staring at them. He noticed few presences around them but said nothing about them to Sara-chan. He didn't want to worry a woman and besides, he was more than enough to beat those guys who were lurking around them. And first and foremost, they didn't seem to threaten them at the moment.

Sara lead Sanji to a beautiful, big mansion on the countryside. The building was surrounded by magnificent garden with red roses. The mansion wasn't as pretty as the pirate mansion they had visited but the garden made it look more impressive.

"Sara-chan, what is this place?" Sanji inquired but Sara only smiled at him, pulling him closer to the building.

Sanji could feel many precenses inside the building with his observation haki. He stopped in front of the building, checking the building troughfully.

_I would say around 80 - 100 people in there... what's this place?! And how is Sara involved in all of this? I guess I just have to play along and act as if I have noticed nothing so that I can surprise them if there is some sort of a threat. Well, I doubt they would attack a pirate with a bounty just like that but better safe than sorry._

"What's wrong, Sanji-san?" Sara stared at the man, her smile fading a little. "Aren't you going to come in?"

_Maybe Sara herself has no idea of what's going on also... she might have nothing to do with this...I don't know if I should mention about this to her._

"Nothing! Let's go!" Sanji made up his mind quickly and Sara smiled at him, blushing slightly.

Sara opened the heavy door slowly and they stepped in. The mansion was big, but not nearly as big as the one at the deserted island. Sara showed Sanji around the mansion. She showed him the humongous kitchen with top-class equipment and the library full of cooking books. The mansion was like a chef's dream. The roofs were high and there was lots of space to move around.

"Well?" Sara voiced out suddenly. "Do you like it?"

"I like it but...why did you show this to me?" Sanji inquired and Sara blushed.

"I just thought that...you would enjoy living here with me?" Sara explained, blushing like a maniac, playing with her fingers.

Sanji couldn't believe what Sara was suggesting. Was she serious about this? Sanji liked the place, of course, but it didn't mean that he would abandon his crew. He had everything he needed at Sunny-Go.

"Sara-chan, I thought I made it pretty clear for you that I am not interested in you," Sanji said, ashamed to turn down a woman. He was mentally stabbing himself because of his rude behaviour. He hated to see Sara like that but he had to turn her down properly.

"I know! I just thought that..." Sara tried to come up with a proper explanation. She was desperately trying to come up with something, something to make the man stay with her.

"Well well, do you like the place, Blackleg Sanji?" They heard a voice from the kitchen door. They turned to look at the man. Sara recogniced the man as the man who she had seen in the cafe.

_This guy might mean trouble...I have a bad feeling about him...I don't know why because he doesn't seem strong enough to beat me! It's sort of a feeling you face when you are against a wild animal..._

"I am sorry, but it looks like we don't need it after all..." Sara muttered, sounding really depressed. Apparently the man had promised to let them use the place but hadn't told Sara that there was many people inside while they looked around.

"Really?" The man almost laughed. "Then you don't need this guy too. You must be pretty bitter towards him since he turned you down again, aren't you?"

Sanji felt threatened. Somehow the man in front of him acted too confidently even though Sanji could feel that he wasn't that strong. Their power difference should be pretty clear to both of them!

"Did you know that you dragged this man, this pirate, into a mansion of pirate hunters?" the man chuckled but Sara didn't wince.

"Yeah, but I know this organisation doesn't hunt down pirates who don't cause trouble! The leader Guntar - - " Sara was about to explain something but the man interrupted him.

" - - the old, stupid leader Guntar is dead and I am the one ruling this place! And I am not going along with his stupid ideas! All of the pirates are rotten from their soul!" the man said and Sanji felt presences nearing them from behind.

...


	35. Good girl gone bad?

Chapter 35! :D There is finally some more action but don't worry, this story won't be going on and on forever :P

...

Sanji had enough time to grab Sara and jump into the air to dodge the gunshots which were aimed at them. Luckily for him, rooms of the mansion were pretty high and he had plenty of space to escape to. The size of the rooms limited his fighting since he was used to fight in bigger areas.

More people were flooding into the kitchen. Sanji thought that he needed to get out of the small room to some bigger room for more space to fight. But he couldn't fight with his full power if he had to protect Sara at the same time and keep her out of danger.

_This situation is pretty annoying...I could beat these guys easily if it was only me in here but I have to take care of Sara! I can't possibly danger her!_

Sanji kicked the wall and created an opening to the next room. It was also flooded with pirate hunters who were pointing their guns at the duo walking on the air. They weren't shooting them, at least not yet.

"Put me down..." Sara almost whispered but raised her voice. "I SAID PUT ME DOWN!"

Sanji just smiled at her gently. "Don't worry, I will get you out of here at any cost!"

Sara couldn't understand why the man was doing this for her just after turning her down. She had lured him into this trap, shouted at him and slapped him, but the man still insisted on protecting her. No normal man would do that for someone like her!

The pirate hunters started to shoot at them. Sanji kicked more and more walls open but every room was flooding with pirates. He would say that there were at least two hundred people inside the mansion at the moment and few more outside. It meant that he would have to dodge many bullets and it probably meant that he would get hit by at least one of them. And there was a risk that Sara's smooth skin could have a bullet hole or two after their escape like this.

_It's not like they are elites but I can't keep running and dodging all the time! If this goes on, another one or both of us will get shot and captured! And I don't want that Sara is thought to be our nakama, a pirate! _

Then Sanji got an idea. He whispered something on Sara's ear and the woman blinked, shaking her head. Apparently she didn't like the idea. It was actually pretty ridiculous!

"Please, Sara-chan, you have to - - " Sanji tried to persuade the woman to follow his insane idea but the woman knocked him out cold by hitting his neck hard.

...

"Hey, Sanji! ~ " Luffy shouted at the deck of their beloved ship, heading towards the kitchen. "Is the meal ready yet?!"

"Idiot! Sanji is not here yet!" Usopp hissed at their always hungry captain.

"EH?!" Luffy cried out. "He should be, he knows how angry I will be without food!"

"Sanji, that idiot...how does he think we will handle our hungry captain?!" Nami cursed and took a deep breath. "Where is that idiot when we need him?!"

...

Sanji's unconcious body hit the ground heavily and Sara landed on top of him and kicked the man slightly after standing up properly. She was angry at the man - why did he even suggest something like that in the first place!?

"DID YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD AGREE TO SOMETHING AS RIDICULOUS AS THAT?!" Sara shouted at the unconcious man.

The men around him looked at her with confused faces but they didn't lower their weapons.

"What's the meaning of this? Did you change sides or did you get pissed at him?" their leader asked with a grin on his face.

"I couldn't forgive him after all. He messed up with my feelings for too long! He deserves this!" Sara hissed and crossed her arms. She was sulking. "He was running after every woman he saw, falling in love with a man and playing with my feelings! I deserve a better man!"

The leader of the pirate hunters laughed loudly. "I like your attitude, woman!"

Sara smiled at the pirate hunters who lowered their weapons. One woman didn't seem to be much of a threat to them. Some of them were whispering something but nobody moved closer to the woman to check if she had weapons or something.

The pirate hunters dragged Sanji to a basement. Sara followed them obediently. Her change of side was pretty sudden to the leader but he could understand why the woman was so angry at the man. He would help her give the man a fitting punishment of his sins and a fitting punishment of being a pirate.

Sanji was chained heavily against the wall. They didn't trust that their average chains would hold the strong pirate with a bounty of 77 million so they used some heavier chains with big spikes in them - if he tried to struggle free, the spikes would hurt him. They also thought of drugging the captured pirate but they thought that they couldn't interrogate him if he was drugged.

Sara saw the chained blond starting to stir. He looked around of him and noticed Sara pretty soon. "Sara, I ... " he tried to stagger something. He tested his chains by pulling them slightly, feeling the spikes against his skin.

"If you really thought that I could handle all of that, you were wrong!" Sara hissed and glared at the man. She lowered her head to the same level with Sanji's. "I tried, I seriously tried to get you fall in love with me but what did you do?"

"Sara, listen - - " Sanji tried to explain something but felt a hard slap against his face.

"YOU HURT ME!" Sara shouted. "You swooned after other women, you didn't fall in love with me - you fell in love with a man! I can't take it anymore! You deserve this!"

Sanji couldn't defend himself. How could he argue with her when he knew she was right? After all, he had flirted with other woman and he had fallen in love with the stupid swordman instead of Sara. She was right, but it was not a reason to blame him from everything she had went trough.

"Sara, please... " Sanji staggered but Sara left the cell and the stunned chef behind.

...

"That was quite a show, young lady," the leader of the pirate hunters laughed, tapping Sara's shoulder. Sara's hands were shaking slightly. "Would you like some tea?"

"Tea to calm my nerves would be perfect!" Sara smiled at the man. "I really need it! Please don't let me get near him, I am too angry at him at the moment! I might do anything!"

The leader laughed and took Sara to the kitchen. "Tea for this lovely lady," he ordered the chef who started to boil the water. They sat down to wait for the tea. "By the way, I heard something about you having a devil fruit power?"

Sara nodded. " I would like to keep my ability a secret, if you don't mind?" Sara suggested and the man laughed.

"That's fine by me! You would be the first devil fruit user in this crew!"

"Sounds nice to me," Sara smirked.

...

**Author's note:**

Arg, Sara is a devil! I think I created her a pretty twisted up personality, don't you agree? :D Let's blame her teenage hormons for this! She is a cute girl, after all, ne?


	36. Raged,young woman

Chapter 36! I know some you might have received a shock when Sara's personality changed :D But don't worry, this story will have a happy ending, at least some sort of happy ending :_D I was planning to release this chapter yesterday but by some reason I couldn't download new document in here but now the problem is solved! Pretty fast I have to say, ! :D

Thank you for your reviews, favorites and follows, they really support me :D Anoni-chan, I received your review to my email again but it's not published here yet by some reason :D

...

Sara fumed out of the mansion. She was so raged she could attack someone if they would step into her way. She had decided to take a walk after she had been officially made a member of the pirate hunters. She had a patch in her arm where they had tattoeed their logo as a sign of the membership.

When she was a little further from the mansion and could see nobody nearby, she broke into tears. She didn't know if it was because Sanji had turned her down again or because she was annoyed at the situation.

She cried for a while before she wiped her tears and decided to do what she was supposed to do. Their meeting was destined, this was how it was meant to be. She wouldn't dissapoint them. She wouldn't.

So she started to run. She run at her full speed even though her shoes weren't made for running, causing some painful blisters. Tears escaped her eyes, falling down her cheeks. She started to sweat and her lungs hurt but she didn't mind. Her muscles weren't used to running so they started to burn but she didn't mind that either.

She was heading towards Thousand Sunny. She was raged.

...

Sunset was colouring the horizon. Everyone else of the Strawhat crew were back on the ship expect a certain, perverted cook. They had skipped two meals when their chef hadn't showed up and Luffy was getting pretty restless.

"SANJI!" Luffy shouted at the deck. "I WILL KICK YOUR ASS IF YOU DON'T SHOW UP SOON!"

"Stop it already!" Usopp begged of their captain. "He must have some urgent business to attend to! Come on, I will make something!"

Usopp's suggestion made their captain smile bridely. "Yosh! Great captain Usopp will save the day!"

"Thank you Usopp!" Nami smiled at their sniper. "I don't know how long we could have endured his constant shouting anymore!"

"I wonder where did Sanji go?" Chopper sighed. "His wound is still healing, he shouldn't move around too much!"

"You know Ero-cook, he won't die of a minor wound like that!" Zoro hissed at their doctor who smiled slightly.

"I know it but it's my responsibility as a doctor to look after you guys!" Chopper noted and Zoro understood his point. "But I have to admit that all of you are already beyond my medical understanding!"

"Are you saying that I am a hentai?" Franky suggested.

...

"Then, Blackleg Sanji," the leader of the pirate hunters spoke to the blond chained against the wall. "Where is your crew's ship?"

"As if I would tell it to a shitty bastard like you," Sanji hissed at the man who sliced his skin with a dull sword. It was not enough to make him bleed but he could feel it clearly. The man was trying to threaten him.

"Where is your crew's ship?" He repeated the guestion, pressing the blade against the chef's skin. Sanji spitted on his shoes and the man pulled his hair strongly, lifting him so that the spikes in the chains were pressing against his body.

"I don't like stubborn guys like you," the man stated.

"I don't like bastards like you either," Sanji grinned and the man hit his head against the wall.

"Okay, let's take another guestion," the man smirked. "What's your captain's weakness?"

"Meat," Sanji answered with a grin. The leader didn't seem to believe him so he hit his head against the wall again.

"Who is the weakest member of your crew?" the leader asked.

"I am not going to answer your guestions, you imbecile," Sanji stated and glared at the man. This time the man pushed the sword trough his palm and Sanji had to grit his teeth together not to cry out aloud. His hand was throbbing from pain and he could feel his blood flooding.

"You know, if you think that someone is gonna save you, you are wrong. Sara is on our side now and she won't come to your rescue. And your crewmembers...have no idea of your whereabouts..." the leader stated, smirking like a devil. "So, what kind of powers do the members of your crew have? Which ones of them are devil fruit users and what kinds of powers they have?"

"Go to hell," Sanji hissed and the sword was removed from his palm but it was quickly inserted into his abandomen.

_Chopper will kill me when he sees these wounds!_

"You can go to hell by yourself," the man grinned but to his surprise, his captive laughed.

"I have already been there, you shitty bastard," Sanji laughed but when the man twisted the sword in his abandomen, he had to stop laughing because of the pain.

"You should answer my guestions if you don't want to get seriously hurt," the man threatened but Sanji wasn't going to give up.

"Fuck yourself," Sanji spit some blood on the ground and the man twisted his sword again.

...

Sara ran towards the ship with the famous Strawhat logo. If she didn't know where the ship was, she would have probably no chance of finding it.

Then she spotted one of her targets. The green-haired man stood there, aside a tree, staring at the sky. He had probably gotten lost again.

"ZORO-SAN!" Sara shouted at the man who raised a suspicious brown. Something must be going on when his rival uses his first name. He grabbed the hold of his sword but didn't pull it out.

"What are you doing here at this time of the night? And where is Ero-cook?" Zoro inquired while Sara tried to catch her breath.

"I AM SORRY!" Sara apologiced, lowering her head. "I lead Sanji-san accidently into a trap and now he is held captive! I don't care what happens to me but please, save him!"

Zoro stared at the woman in disbelief. Had she really humbled herself for her worst rival? "Where is he?"

"Eh?" Sara voiced out. She hadn't thought that the stubborn swordman would believe her so easily. "At the big mansion, west from the city."

"I got it," Zoro stated and started to run to the direction he thought was west.

"THAT'S NOT WEST!" Sara shouted at the man and pointed the right direction.

Then she continued running even though her breath was catching in her throat. She run towards the familiar ship and sighed in relief when she saw the mast. She sped up even though she had thought that there would be no more energy in her young body.

She had been stupid, idiot, acted like an idiot and acted like a teenager. She was frustfrated with herself.

Sara saw everyone running around the ship, apparently chasing after their captain who had probably stolen some food again. She didn't care, however, she just needed to inform them and let them save Sanji. It was a shame, but she was too weak to do it by herself.

"LUFFY-SAN!" Sara shouted and stopped the ruckus at the deck. She jumped on the deck and raised both of her hands,breaking into tears. "PLEASE SAVE SANJI-SAN!"

...

**Author's note:**

Confused, yes? If you were, that was my purpose :P There is an explanation in the next chapter :P


	37. Lost child being of use for once?

Chapter 37! Sara switched sides again?! What is she?! XD

...

*flashback* (Sara's POV)

_I saw the situation we were in. More and more enemies were flooding in and I was scared. Scared for my dear live. I looked at the man I loved deeply. He didn't love me back but I couldn't help loving him._

_We were flying in the air. The feeling of flying was amazing. He grabbed me immediately when he sensed danger and he is probably thinking of a way to save me. He should pay more attention to himself too! I don't deserve this!_

_He broke trough the wall with his strong legs but every room we entered was full of pirate hunters. The situation was hopeless and I knew that Sanji should leave me behind. _

_"Put me down..." I begged quietly because I knew the gentleman wouldn't leave me behind unless I ordered him properly. "I SAID PUT ME DOWN!" _

_But that idiot didn't listen to me. He just smiled at me, trying to reassure me that everything would be alright even though the situation was pretty bad. "Don't worry, I will get you out of here at any cost!" Sanji promised. _

_Why is he doing this to me?! He turned me down and the next moment, he is ready to risk his life to save me!? I have treated him horribly, I have slapped him and lured him into this trap and he still insists on saving me!?_

_Sanji was looking around of them, trying to analyze the situation they were in. _

_"Hey, Sara-chan," Sanji almost whispered to my ear. He sounded slightly desperate. "Knock me out."_

_I shoke my head. I didn't want to harm him. "Sara, we need to get out of here but we can't escape at the same time. Pretend that you are angry with me, you can even hit me or kick me if they suspect you. If you can gain their trust, you can get out of here and get help. I will survive, they will probably want to get some information from me first."_

_I shoke my head again. I didn't want to do it but I didn't see any other option. But there had to be something we could do to escape together._

_"Please, Sara, you have to - - " Sanji started to beg of me to do what he told me to do. I couldn't resist the look he gave to me so I hit him, as hard as I could after closing my eyes. My hand was hurting and I felt quilty after the hit but I had to do it even if I hated it. Besides, I was pretty good at acting._

*End of flashback* ( end of Sara's POV )

...

"LUFFY-SAN!" Sara shouted and stopped the ruckus at the deck. She jumped on the deck and raised both of her hands, breaking into tears. "PLEASE SAVE SANJI-SAN!"

"EH?!" Nami and Luffy voiced out at the same time. Sara felt ashamed that she was crying like this and everyone was looking at her but she knew what she had to do even if she felt embarrassed.

"Calm down, Sara! Explain yourself!" Usopp tried to calm the young lady.

"I lead him accidently into a trap! I was stupid, I didn't know those people were bad!" Sara staggered. "He let me escape and he got captured by himself!"

Brook started to laugh. "Yohohoho! That's our Sanji-san!"

"SHUT UP, YOU IDIOT!" Nami raged and hit the skeleton.

"Nami-san is harsh!" Brook whined.

"Where is he?" Luffy asked. He was dead serious and Sara could feel shivers running trough her spine.

"He is...at the mansion...west from the city," Sara told. "Zoro-san is already heading there!"

"WHAT!?" Nami, Usopp and Chopper gasped.

"He should have been training!" Nami hissed.

"Our leave will probably get delayed when we have to look for him. I hope he won't leave this island," Robin chuckled. She didn't mind staying a bit longer.

"Yosh!" Luffy voiced out, trying to get his crew's attention. "Me, Usopp and Franky should be enough to deal with those pirate hunters! And of course there is Zoro!"

"If he finds the place by some miracle..." Nami noted.

"You know Zoro! He has an amazing ability to find something when he needs to!" Luffy laughed and Nami smiled slightly.

Sara felt relieved. Sanji was going to be saved. He was going to be alright. These people were going to save him. He was going to be alright. Her muscles hurt. Her breathing was difficult. She didn't mind a one bit.

Chopper was there to catch Sara when the woman fainted. "Exhaustion must have hit her...she must have ran all the way back here..." Chopper explained shortly to others who nodded slightly when the small doctor carried the red-haired woman to the infirmary.

...

When the leader left the cell, noticing that Blackleg Sanji would not give them any information, the blond was barely concious. There was a pool of blood beneath him and his side was bleeding heavily - the dusty sword sticked trough his side, breaking few ribs. Well, it was not enough to kill the strong man but it was enough to weaken him to the state where he could not even consider running away.

_I really hope that Sara-chan managed to escape...I hope she informed Luffy and others from the situation..._

Sanji was worried over Sara when he should think of his own condition. His vision was blurry and he felt dizzy enough to loose his conciousness any moment. But he could do nothing to escape. He was too tired.

...

Sara regained her conciousness a while after she fainted. She tried to sit up but her muscles refused to follow her orders. They were hurting, a lot. Her throat was sore and breathing hurt slightly.

"Are you okay?" Chopper's worried voice asked. He looked at the woman, smiling at her.

"I am fine..." Sara answered, wanting to ask something but she couldn't.

"That's good!" Chopper sighed in relief and sat down to his chair. "You fainted because of the exhaustion!"

Sara nodded slighty and then she smiled. "I wonder if I could take my own sense of feeling away...?" Chopper chuckled slighty at the comment.

...

Two pirate hunters were standing inside the mansion, close to a cave opening. They were guarding some sort of secret passage which led straight to the basement of the mansion.

"Hey, why do we have to guard this place all the time? It's not like anyone could find this secret passage!" other one of them with brown eyes wondered.

"That's right...nobody has ever found this passage! It's so well-hidden that even those who know it exists can't find it!" the other one of them with blue eyes hissed.

They guarded the place because the had no other option. They didn't dare to not obey their orders. The new leader was pretty scary and his underlights didn't like his ideas but nobody dared to say it out aloud. They liked the former leader more.

Then they heard steps coming from the direction of the cave. "Oi joi, you can't be serious!?" the brown eyed pirate hunter gasped and they both took a hold of their weapons.

"This can't be happening!" the blue eyed gasped. "The secret passage should be better than perfectly hidden!"

Then they saw a figure standing at the opening, staring at them with one eye. The figure smirked at the two men standing there and staring back at him. "Do you know where the pirate hunter's mansion is? I got lost," Zoro hissed, admitting that he was lost for once.

...

**Author's note:**

Yay! I thought it would be such a fun coincidence if Zoro would find a secret passage :D His ability to get lost would be useful at this case!


	38. The weird knight

Chapter 38! :D I will upload last two chapters a little slower than usual but I promise I will release both inside two weeks! :D So don't wonder when new chapters are not coming up so fast :P So yes, there will be 40 chapters in this story and the last chapter will be longer than usual so it takes more time to work with it :)

...

The two pirate hunters recognised the famous former pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro immediately when the man stepped out of the shadows. Their weapons started to shake and they couldn't bring theirselves to shoot the man in front of them.

"Do you know where the mansion is?" Zoro repeated the question.

"It's...over there!" the blue-eyed one staggered, pointing forward the hallway.

"Oi!" the brown-eyed one hissed because they weren't supposed to give directions to a lost pirate.

"Perfect!" Zoro grinned. "Do you know where the blond pirate is?"

"He...is...forward the hallway..." the blue-eyed staggered again, his hands shaking.

"Could you show me the way?" Zoro suggested and the men didn't dare to say no.

They lead Zoro forward the hallway. They couldn't know it but it was a miracle the swordman was able to follow them without wandering off to some random direction.

They opened the cell and saw the famous pirate swallowing hard. Apparently he was shocked to see the state of his nakama and for a while, he couldn't move from the spot.

"Then...we will get back to guarding duty!" the brown-eyed guard staggered and the duo ran back to their work spot, trying to forget that somebody had managed to find the secret passage which should have been perfectly hidden.

Zoro stepped slowly closer to the familiar figure chained against the wall. His blond hair was colored with dark blood and his clothes were full of blood stains. The blond started to stir when he heard the familiar steps.

"Well well, never would I have thought I would be rescued by a knight with green-hair, haramaki and three swords," Sanji joked as usual. "Usually there is a white horse and a suit of armor!"

"As sarcastic as ever, aren't we?" Zoro teased and knelt down to look at the chains. " I will get you out of these chains."

"Oh that would be very welcome!" Sanji admitted with a chuckle and Zoro raised his sword to cut the chains which a moment later fell on the floor. He also removed the rusty sword from the blond's side, causing a gasp escape Sanji's lips.

Sanji tried to stand up but ended up falling on the floor. "Don't move, you are wounded!" Zoro hissed at the man.

"You genius or something?!" Sanji teased, not trying to stand up anymore. Zoro took the wounded man and lifted him to ride on his back. "A piggy-back ride? Seriously?"

"Well if you don't want to walk," Zoro grinned and Sanji leaned his weight against the swordman's wide, muscular back.

"But tell me, how are you going to fight if you are carrying me? Upstairs is full of pirate hunters you know!" Sanji noted and Zoro though it for a second.

"I believe in luck," Zoro chuckled.

"You are the worst," Sanji hissed but smiled slightly. He knew their crew had had lots of luck during their adventure.

Sanji and Zoro headed upstairs ( with Sanji's instruction of course ) and heard that there was a fight going on in there already. When they opened the door, they saw Luffy hitting the enemies as fast as he could, Usopp shooting them down and Franky showing off his beams. Sanji suspected that there would be nothing left of the mansion when they finished their fight.

"Yo! Zoro! You found the place?!" Usopp gasped when he saw the green-haired man.

"I told you, didn't I?" Luffy shouted in the middle of the fight.

"How is Curly-cook?" Franky inquired. He shot a beam which collapsed the whole roof.

"SHITTY FINE," Sanji yelled loudly to make his voice heard over all the din.

"No you are not!" Zoro argued. He felt the warm blood against his back and had seen the terrifying amount of blood beneath the blond earlier. He didn't know the capacity of Sanji's injuries but he had a wild guess it was something pretty serious: otherwise the stubborn bastard would not allow himself being carried on his back.

Zoro would probably have had trouble getting out of the mansion without their nakama's help. The pirate hunters were not strong by any means but he had to carry a wounded person on his back and be careful of not causing any further damage.

They managed to get out of the mostly destroyed mansion and they started to head towards their ship. Well, it was hard to order the swordman around and get him and the blond he was carrying back to the ship. He had no sense of direction, after all.

...

By some miracle, they managed to get back to the ship without loosing Zoro and their chef on their way back. Sanji had also made sure they wouldn't go to the wrong direction by shouting to the idiot's ear or kicking him slightly.

"Sanji-kun!" Nami shouted when she saw the blond being carried in the swordman's back. She rushed to check his condition but Sanji got off and stood calmly, litting a cigarette.

"Don't worry, Nami-san, I am fine," Sanji smiled and blowed his smoke.

"With the amount of blood you lost, you are not. Or did all the damage make you lose your brain capacity?" Zoro hissed and Sanji's weird eyebrows twisted slightly.

"What was that? I can act as if I didn't hear it, Marimo," Sanji hissed back even though he didn't feel like fighting.

"You don't have to," Zoro grinned slightly but said nothing more to annoy the blond further. He knew Sanji was in no condition to fight. "Because of you, I have to go and change my clothes. They are covered in your perverted blood!"

"As if you had any complaints of my pervertness few days ago," Sanji answered with a smirk, referring to the night they spent together. It took a while for the swordman to get what he meant but when he did, he turned his head towards the city to hide his slight blush from others.

Chopper rushed out of the infirmary, smelling the fresh blood clearly. "SANJI!" he shouted angrily, hitting the man's back slightly. "CAN'T YOU POSSIBLY WAIT THAT YOUR OLD WOUNDS HEAL PROPERLY BEFORE GETTING NEW ONES?!"

"Sorry, Chopper!" Sanji said, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

Chopper sighed deeply. "I have no choice. To my infirmary, immediately, NOW!" Chopper ordered strictly.

"But how about meal...?" Sanji wondered.

"Don't worry, Sara is taking care of that at the moment," Chopper explained and headed towards the infirmary but couldn't hear steps following him. "Sanji?"

The blond paled suddenly. It felt like his legs would give up beneath him any moment. He was relieved. "is that so...Sara got here safely..." he sighed slightly before passing out.

...

**Author's note:**

yay! Please wait patiently for the two final chapters! Chapter 39 is basically ready and I have written a pretty good version of the final chapter too but I have to read them again and again to make them better :D Expecially the final chapter is important! :)


	39. Sparring match with blood hunter

Chapter 39! I know, I love cliff-hangers :P I hope all the characters are realistic like they are not too OC :) The next chapter will be the last, but it will be also the longest in this story! :)

...

Sara stepped out of the kitchen to see the unconscious chef laying on the deck. Chopper had turned him around to lay on his back, checking his wounds quickly. Well, as if he was going to strip the blond out of his clothes in front of everyone.

Sara couldn't bring up the courage to step closer. She stood there, staring at the scene with wide eyes. It was her fault. She knew that everyone should blame her for the events. She didn't have the right to smile to the blond, not anymore. She bit her lip not to let tears escape her eyes, not before she would be back in the kitchen.

"Is Sanji-san going to be alright?" Brook inquired from the small doctor.

Chopper swallowed hard but nodded. "He has lost a lot of blood again but his wounds are not serious. They will just hurt a lot and take some time to heal, that's all," Chopper explained and relieved sigh escaped everyone's lips.

"So I guess I should go and hunt down more people with this rare blood type?" Zoro grinned slightly. He stared at the blond, worrying over the pale figure.

"We don't want you getting lost, Zoro!" Nami hissed. "Besides, I don't want to scare these people off because of our crazy blood hunter again!"

"Yosh! Leave it to the great Usopp-sama!" Usopp vowed and raised a thumb.

"I will come with you, Usopp-san!" Brook offered and the long-nosed man smiled slightly.

Chopper lifted the blond off the deck and headed towards the infirmary with their chef in his hands. "Could somebody help me out a bit?" he asked nicely.

"I will come," Zoro volunteered immediately and everyone around them gasped loudly. Everyone expect Luffy who started to laugh.

"I told you, they get along pretty well!" Their captain laughed while Robin chuckled behind his back.

Chopper barely had time to lay the blond down on the infirmary bed before Sanji regained his conciousness. "Sanji! You scared us out there!" Chopper hissed and Sanji managed a weak smile.

"You alive, Ero-cook?" Zoro inquired and Sanji stared at the green-haired man with wide eyes.

"Not expecting to see you here, Marimo," Sanji chuckled slighty but ended up coughing slightly. There was some blood stuck to his throat.

"Sanji," Chopper called out for their chef seriously. "I have to clean your wounds and put some stiches on but because of your loss of blood, I can't give you any anaesthetics or pain killers."

Sanji gulped slightly but ended up nodding anyways. As if he had any options.

"You can use my hand," Zoro offered but Sanji didn't understand what he meant.

"Eh?" Sanji voiced out.

"You can hold onto my hand and squeeze it as hard as you can when it hurts," Zoro stated and Sanji started to laugh.

_Isn't he ashamed to say things like that in front of Chopper? Well, it's not like I care and besides, our secret is going to be revealed sooner or later anyways...if they don't already know..._

"You sure think big of yourself," Sanji chuckled but grabbed the swordman's outreached hand.

...

Sara prepared a meal for everyone but she didn't want to join them to eat. She didn't deserve their company. She didn't deserve to be on the same ship with everyone.

"Hey Sara!" Luffy stepped out of the kitchen, mouth and hands full of meat. "Come and eat!"

Sara stared at the foolish, grinning captain before turning her head away. "I can't."

"Of course you can! Why not?" Luffy hissed slightly.

"Because I...I...hurt your nakama..." Sara staggered. She felt like crying again.

"Don't worry about it! We are pirates, after all!" Luffy grinned widely at the woman.

"I hurt your friend!" Sara raised her voice a bit. "Can't you understand?!"

"I understand it pretty well!" Luffy noted seriously. "But you also did your best to save my nakama which means that you are my friend!"

Sara managed a small chuckle and a lonely tear escaped her eye. She looked at the kitchen which door was open and saw everyone staring at their direction. Nobody seemed to despise her, nobody seemed to push her away. Even the idiotic swordman stared directly at her.

"Come on, Sara-san," Robin advised. "Your food will get cold or our captain-san will eat it before it does."

"Sara-san!" Nami waved at the woman, smiling brightly.

Sara couldn't understand what was going on but he wiped the lonely tear from her eye and laughed slighty. "Thank you, everyone!" Sara thanked them but remembered something which made her swallow hard. "And I am sorry! I lied about the log setting in ten days! It has already set!" Sara apologized, bowing her head deeply.

"Don't worry about it, Sara-san! We have a lot worse liar on board!" Nami grinned and stared at the long-nosed man who gulped.

"Nami-san is harsh!" Brook laughed and everyone relaxed, enjoying their meal.

...

Sanji stirred a bit after others had went to sleep. He had managed to stay conscious during Chopper's treatment but after that, he had lost his conciousness due to exhaustion. His vision was slighty blurry and there was a blood drip in his arm. He sighed deeply, staring at the white roof.

He felt the stiches itching his skin but Chopper had bandaged them so heavily that he couldn't scratch them. His torso was almost covered in heavy bandages and he couldn't move properly thanks to them. Well, it had probably been the small doctor's purpose to prevent any unnecessary movements.

He tried to remember the events of the day.

_Ah, that's right...Sara lured me into the mansion and pirate hunters attacked us...I was captured, interrogated and saved by the shitty swordman... All of this makes me look somehow weak! _

His savior knocked the door after seeing that the blond was awake from the small window.

"Come in," Sanji adviced and Zoro opened the door carefully.

"Are you alright?" The swordman inquired. He was seriously worried about the blond but at the same time, he seemed somehow annoyed and even slighty angry.

"I am fine," Sanji hissed and didn't even bother trying to sit up.

"You are an idiot," Zoro mocked: he was angry.

"I know!" Sanji admitted, chuckling slightly. "But you know me, I couldn't abandon her just like that."

Zoro raised his hand to slap the man and Sanji closed his eyes but opened them when he felt warm lips pressing against his instead of feeling a hand hitting his face. The kiss was more gentle than their earlier kiss: Zoro was probably trying not to hurt the blond.

"How are your wounds?" Zoro asked when their lips finally parted.

Sanji hesitated to answer for a while. "They are nothing serious, just normal puncture wound and normal broken bones and bruises," Sanji explained honestly.

"Good," Zoro stated and grinned slighty."Then you can have a sparring match with me."

Sanji blinked heavily but understood the message when the man crawled on top of him, an evil grin on his face. "Oi Marimo, you can't be serious!" Sanji hissed and tried to argue with the man before rough lips pressed against his lips.

_Well, I might as well go along with his plan...but I might have trouble explaining my condition to Chopper tomorrow morning..._

...

**Author's note: **

How did you like it? ;) I am working on the last chapter and I will try to finish it during the next week :) Hope you enjoyed this chapter ~


	40. Parting gift

Senseless World chapter 40 and the last chapter is here! I decided to make the last chapter a little longer than my earlier chapters :) I hope you enjoyed and I hope I didn't continue going on with the story for too long :D Please review me and tell me your opinion about the whole story after reading this chapter :)

...

Strawhats decided to leave the island as soon as Sanji would be at least a little better. Well, well enough to cook again because when they set their journey towards a new adventure, they couldn't feed their captain in some restaurant anymore. Unfortunate for them, they were already known in few buffet-restaurants and there were only few more of them left which would let them in, not knowing their captain's appetite.

Sara was feeling really down. She was really worried about Sanji but she couldn't bring herself to check his condition by herself. So all he did was ask his condition from others. She regretted everything she had done, she regretted everything she hadn't done. She was confused by the situation and also slightly sad by the fact the crew would be leaving soon.

Everyone did their work around the ship. Franky was doing some adjustments on their ship and Usopp was helping him with his work. They were also developing their weapons together. Nami was drawing maps and trying to gather some information about their possible next destination. Chopper was taking care of Sanji and preparing some medicines which were probably needed during their journey. Zoro was on guard duty most of the time and Robin did their grocery shopping with the swordman, threatening him with angry chef if he didn't help a woman in need.

It was getting dark but the Strawhats were still fooling around like they had already done most of the day. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper were running around the ship and Franky was re-designing his hair all the time to show off. Brook was cracking few skull jokes and playing his guitar. Nami was shouting at them to be quiet bu the didn't listen to her orders.

Sara couldn't sleep so she went to walk around the deck, looking around the ship and trying to remember the ship to its fullest. She would organize a party for Strawhats tomorrow and then she would leave the ship for good. She would probably never step on board on this ship anymore.

"Sara-chan?" Sara turned to see Sanji's face just inches from hers. She stammered back and almost fell on the deck but the gentleman prevented him from falling. "Are you alright?"

"Y- - yeah," Sara staggered and stood up while Sanji smiled at her. "How about you?"

"Me?" Sanji smirked slightly. "These wounds are nothing for you to worry about, my lovely lady!"

Sara smiled slightly but then turned her head away when she spoke quietly. "I am sorry."

"For what?" Sanji inquired. He hoped that the woman would talk to him because he could sense she had something on her mind.

"For...being selfish..." Sara blushed but Sanji laughed slightly. "And sorry for troubling you. I will give up on you seriously."

Sanji blinked at the sudden apologize and promise. "Sara-chan, I am not mad at you. "

"But you should be!" Sara raised her voice a bit but then calmed down again. "I mean...I was really rude and I never realised how much you liked him. I didn't even notice that you didn't like me."

"I like you, Sara-chan, but just as a friend," Sanji noted and Sara nodded.

"I know that, at least I know it now and I realise what a fool I have been," Sara admitted and she even smiled slightly. "I have always been a fool who believed in destiny. I seriously though that Captain Dess was my love, and when you guys came around, I though that destiny was playing with me, giving me a chance to choose. I never hated Dess but I just realised that I never loved him either."

Sanji stayed quiet, listening for Sara's story. "I can see how he looks at you and how you look at him. I can't interrupt that. I will give up," Sara smiled brightly and headed towards the girls' bedroom.

"Thank you, Sara-chan," Sanji thanked the red-haired woman who would probably fall asleep easier now.

When Sara closed the door behind of her, Sanji fell on the deck. He wasnt' actually feeling dizzy nor he was hurting but he couldn't move either. He laughed by himself, thinking of what a fool he had been walking around in his state.

...

Of course Sanji received a preach from Chopper who tied him up to his bed tightly even though the chef vowed him he would not leave the infirmary without the doctor's allowance anymore. Their doctor could be harsh sometimes when he didn't hesitate to hurt his patients if it meant they would not move around and open their wounds.

Sara was organizing the party for the Strawhats the best she could. She wanted the party to work as an proper apology for all the trouble they had went trough because of her. Luckily Werner and his son had enough courage to come and help her organize the party on a pirate ship of all the places. Her mother was too weak and sick to help them but she had no trouble with it.

Luffy was fooling around them as usual and bother their "work". He would jump around in the kitchen and ask if the food was ready every ten seconds. It was bothering them, so they kicked a man with 400 million bounty of his head out of the kitchen.

Sara refused to let anybody of the Strawhat crew to help. The party was for them so they didn't need to bother themselves with it. Well, the members of Strawhat crew understood her point and did their best to keep their stubborn captain out of the kitchen.

...

It was around the time for the sunset when the party was finally ready. Sara, Werner and his son Gabu had prepared various kinds of dishes and they had prepared a humongous tray full of meat for the hungry captain. They just wished it would be enough to fill his big stomach.

Sara already knew what it was like to eat with Strawhats but Werner and Gabu hadn't seen the crew worth over 800 million dining. Sara couldn't help but chuckle at their reactions with the crew's archeologist.

"Are they...always like this?" Gabu asked out aloud from Robin who seemed to be the only calm member at the moment.

"Pretty much...I think they are behaving themselves when there are other people on board," Robin thought about it and Gabu's jaw fell.

"You mean...they are even worse than this? How can someone be worse than this?!" Gabu wondered, raising his voice a bit but Robin only chuckled at the young man.

Luffy was eating like a monster as usual. Food was sticking out of his mouth but nobody expect their guests seemed to mind him. Zoro was drinking alcohol like he would never get to drink it again. Usopp was telling stories about his adventures, standing on top of the table and dancing around. He had his own show and nobody expect Chopper, who cheered the man on, paid attention to him.

Franky and Brook were trying desperately to steal the show from Usopp. Franky boasted with his perverted nipple-lights and Brook cracked few skull-jokes which made their captain spit out all of the food in his mouth at the moment. Nami hit their idiotic captain for wasting food but soon Luffy put the food back to his mouth, causing a gasp of disgust espape Sara's lips. Sanji saw nothing weird in it since he hated wasting food like that and their captain would eat almost anything.

Sanji was ordered to sit trough the party. Chopper was giving him glares every time he saw a glimpse of movement but relaxed when he saw the blond was not going to escape and dishonor his orders. He checked their chef pretty often for any sign of pain or discomfort but luckily there was none or the blond was hiding them pretty well.

After the messy party, everyone rushed out of the kitchen to run around the ship like a maniac. Usopp, Luffy and Chopper managed to lure Gabu to play tag with them: how could he skip a change to play tag with the famous Strawhat Luffy? Robin, Nami, Franky and Brook stared at the beautiful, starry sky while Sanji layed on the deck, smoking his beloved cigarette.

When Werner took his chance to talk with the crew's archeologist about the history, Sara took her chance to talk with her former rival by stepping closer to the swordman.

"Zoro-san, I am...sorry for trying to get in between your relationship..."

"Why?" Zoro hissed. He was not so polite towards the woman but he didn't actually want to kill her either. At least not anymore.

"I...was too selfish and I didn't realise what was going on..." Sara explained, turning her head away and they both stared at the blond laying on the deck. Sanji was smoking calmly, staring at the sky while the wind blowed his hair.

"Selfishness is nothing new on this ship so don't worry," Zoro said pretty calmly, grinning slightly. Their captain was proably the most stubborn person on earth.

"But I...hurt him..." Sara explained, feeling like deserving a punch straight to her face from the swordman.

"Maybe you hurt him, but he is not so weak or fragile to die like that. Besides, you helped him out of the trouble and that's all that matters," Zoro said, trying to explain something to both Sara and himself.

...

It was time for the ship to set sails towards new adventure. They were preparing the sails to leave and saying their goodbyes to the people they had met. Sara was standing there, staring at the ship sadly but she forced a smile on her face. Gabu was chatting friendly with Usopp and Chopper while Robin and Brook were talking with Werner.

Sanji was already better. Well, he was allowed to cook already but Chopper insisted that he rested every now and then and he also forbade fights with Zoro. Well, if their chef wasn't back to his work they wouldn't even consider leaving because nobody else could keep up with their captain's unbelievable appetite.

"I will miss you, my lady," Sanji said to Sara, kissing her back of hand gently.

"I will miss you too, Sanji-san," Sara smiled slighty.

"Oi, don't flirt with her," Zoro mumbled quietly so that only the blond could hear him.

Strawhats stepped on their ship and the ship started to head towards the vast ocean. The cheerfull crew was waving at the people on the beach. Sara stared at the ship which had already off the shore. She felt like tears would escape her eyes but she brushed the feeling she stared at Sanji and Zoro, and the crew behind them. Of course she couldn't let them leave without a proper parting gift: a parting gift they were probably never going to forget. Besides, he had to have her revenge on Zoro at least.

"ZORO-SAN!" Sara shouted loudly to gain the man's attention. The shout surprised everyone because they thought Sara hated him. What escaped Sara's mouth, however, surprised them more. "TAKE CARE OF SANJI FOR ME, WILL YOU?!"

Sanji blushed a deep shade of red, trying to hide his face the best he could. Zoro grinned at the woman who had admitted her defeat yet again. "I WILL!" Zoro vowed and Sanji kicked him hard.

Soon the island was only a small spot in their horizon.

"What was that about?" Franky suddenly voiced out the thoughts of many people on board. Robin chuckled slighty. "You know something, don't you?"

Robin just chuckled mysteriously, staring directly at Sanji and Zoro. "Well, boys?"

Sanji could say nothing due to his embarrasment.

"Sanji, why are you so red? You are red like a tomato!" Luffy mocked, not really sure what was going on.

"Like a tomato!" Chopper joined in likelywise as Usopp.

"SHUT UP!" Sanji yelled and the idiot trio fell quiet.

"Yohohoho!" Brook laughed but said nothing.

When Zoro only grunted as response, Robin took it as a sign to go on with the story. "Our Cook-san and Kenshi-san have a relationship," Robin explained and smiled after seeing other's confused faces.

"They WHAT?!" Franky, Luffy and Chopper gasped while Sanji and Zoro tried to ignore their stares. Then they saw the looks on Robin, Nami, Brook and Usopp's faces and realised they weren't shocked at all.

"DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?" Luffy hissed. He was angry about not knowing, not angry that they had a relationship.

"I hadn't known if Robin hadn't told me..." Nami sighed deeply.

"I had my suspicions..." Usopp admitted and winked at the two men.

"I knew from the start," Robin chuckled mysteriously.

"I have lived for too long not to realise something like this going on, yohohoho!" Brook laughed.

"Well, I saw them holding hands in my infirmary but I never knew..." Chopper sighed. "I just thought that Sanji was in love with Robin or Nami like usual."

"They were holding hands?!" Nami gasped but then smirked teasingly while looking at the couple on board. "How cute ~ "

"Shut up, sea-witch," Zoro threatened, feeling a cold glare on his back.

"Don't you speak to Nami-san like that, you baka Marimo!" Sanji ordered.

"Then, does it mean they have done 'that' together?" Luffy asked suddenly, making everyone wonder how he even knew about 'that'. Oh how their captain could be pretty straightforward sometimes!

"LUFFY!" Sanji shouted back at their captain, kicking him hard. Everyone saw the blush on the blond's face but said nothing to anger the furious chef anymore.

After a while of interrogation, Zoro and Sanji were left alone on the deck while others went to fool around the ship.

"Well, curse that woman," Zoro chuckled slighty at the Sara's revelation.

"I have to admit I somehow agree with you but I have to punish you from cursing a lady," Sanji said and pinched the swordman's nose.

"By the way, what happened to your jacket?" Zoro inquired. He had noticed that one of the buttons was missing.

"Oh, you noticed?! Not expected that to happen!" Sanji mocked but it was actually a small praise. "I don't really know... the button got lost during our journey to Sara's home island but I don't really remember when..."

"I will buy you a new button when we reach the next island," Zoro promised and Sanji grinned.

"You sure you can afford that? Everyone can see you are just a poor kid with lots of dept," Sanji teased and a vein popped in Zoro's head.

"Dare to repeat that?" Zoro said in a threatening tone and the duo would have fought if not for the doctor's strict orders.

...

Meanwhile on the beach of Sara's home island, a red-haired woman sat on the beach, staring at the horizon. She didn't cry since she had decided not to but she had to swallow hard to keep the tears from coming.

"Mind if I join you?"

Sara turned to look at Gabu who smiled at her gently. "No, not at all," she said and Gabu sat down next to Sara.

"What's that in your hands?" Gabu pointed out at the small object she was holding.

"Just a memento," Sara smirked slighty, staring at the button in her hands. She hadn't been able to refuse the chance to steal one button from Sanji's jacket when the man had asked him to patch the jacket.

They sat in silence for a while, both staring at the horizon. "I would have never known Strawhat pirates would be like that," Gabu admitted and Sara chuckled slighty.

"Me either," Sara admitted and layed down on the sand likewise Gabu.

There was a moment of silence before Gaby broke it again. "I am so happy to see you back here safely," he said quietly. They laid there for a while before Gabu stood up. "Should we head back?" he asked, reaching out his hand to help Sara up. "I think so," Sara said and grabbed the outreached hand.

"You have become quite a gentleman, haven't you?" Sara said her thoughts out aloud, blushing hard when she realised what she had said. The Gabu she remembered had been a pretty noisy, stubborn and selfish brat but something had changed during those few years. Something to make Sara blush like a little girl again.

...

**Author's note:**

Thank you for your support, thank you for your reviews, follows and favorites, they really kept me writing! Please check my other stories and check my new on-going story "Strawhat's police station" which already has few chapters in it :) It's not yaoi but friendship between our favorite boys ;) Of course I recommend you to check my other stories of One Piece also, you could like two of my other ZoSan pairing-fics "The Enemy Below Us" and "Do Not Step Into Paw" :D

And yes, I wanted to create some sort of happy ending for Sara too, that's why small hints of her new crush ;)


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